A Consuming Love
by MadameAnnabeth
Summary: Elena grew up with a rough family life. When her parents kick her out, she goes on search for her lost uncle and aunt in NYC. She winds up working in a strip club and witnesses a crime. This is her story as she pursues justice and meets a very sexy detective. Warning: Violence, sex, language, drug abuse. Not a light fic really.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own TVD**

**Elena grew up with a rough family life. When her parents kick her out, she goes on search for her lost uncle and aunt in NYC. She winds up working in a strip club and witnesses a crime. This is her story as she pursues justice and meets a very sexy detective. Warning: Violence, sex, language, drug abuse. Not a light fic really.**

* * *

Life is not perfect. It never will be. You just have to make the very best of it, and you have to open your heart to what the world can show you; and sometimes it's terrifying, and sometimes it's incredibly beautiful, and I'll take both. Thanks.

– Graham Nash

* * *

Life sucks and then you die. That's all that Elena Gilbert knew. She was still waiting for the die part. It hadn't happened yet. At eighteen, she really shouldn't have been so melancholy about her life. But she was and her life sucked. She didn't go around proclaiming it to the homeless veterans and terminal cancer patients, but she still knew it. And pretending like it didn't, well that's something that Elena didn't want to do anymore. She'd done it for eighteen years and now she was tired of it. Her life sucked and she did not want to get over it anymore.

That day was supposed to be a happy day full of tears and smiles. Flashing cameras and sentimental moments. Instead, she found herself waiting, in her shithole of a home, for her parents. When they finally came stumbling through the door at one in the morning, she wasn't surprised to see them drunk off their asses and arguing.

"Give me the fucking money!" her father shouted, paying no attention to his daughter standing there.

"Fuck you, John!" her mother screamed back, brandishing her half empty beer bottle at him.

"You've been doing that for twenty fucking years!" he proclaimed, grinning at her.

That statement earned him getting the half empty beer bottle smashed over his head.

"Bitch!" he screamed, stumbling backwards and pressing a hand to his now bleeding forehead.

"Stop!" she shouted.

They both turned towards her.

"Oh, Elena honey. I'm sorry I didn't see you there." Isobel said, stumbling to the couch and sitting down.

Elena sighed and walked to her, bending down and gently wrestling the broken bottle from her hand.

"Lie down, Mom." she said softly.

Isobel didn't fight her, letting her body fall onto the couch. She was passed out within moments. Elena looked up at her father.

"What are you fighting about now?" she asked, pulling him to the kitchen.

"She swiped some of my cash out of my wallet at the bar. Apparently she needs new jeans." He grumbled.

She grabbed a clean towel and wet it down before pressing it to his forehead.

"Hold it there." she commanded before grabbing the first aid kit from underneath the sink.

"That's no reason to be screaming at each other at one in the morning." She said as she cleaned the cut with alcohol and covered it with a bandage.

He looked at her with clear blue eyes and she figured out that he wasn't as drunk as she thought he was.

"I missed your graduation." He said miserably.

"It's no big deal, Dad. You know I don't care about that." she shrugged, cleaning off the blood from his hands with the wet towel and then rinsing it off in the sink.

"But I care. I was so excited to come, kid. I even bought a tie." He said, pulling a crinkled dark blue tie out of his pocket.

She smiled at him. For all the shitty things he'd done, being a drunk at the top of them, he did love her. That counted for something.

"You would have looked very handsome in it. Save it for another day. You'll probably need it sometime." She said, kissing his cheek.

"Nah. I'm not important enough to need a nice tie." He shrugged, stuffing it back in his pocket.

She sighed and sat next to him at the table, wrapping her arms around his shoulders.

"I love you Dad." She said.

"Love you too, Lena." He mumbled, rest his head on her shoulder.

She carefully helped him to bed. She wanted to give him painkillers for his head. But with his history of taking drugs without remembering, she didn't want to accidentally cause a reaction or an overdose.

Then she went to her own room and sighed at her maroon graduation robe laid across her bed. She shook her head and crumpled it up before throwing it in her closet. Then she crawled into bed and quickly fell asleep. The next morning she was awoken by a noise. It sounded like an animal crawling through her closet.

"Stop." She groaned, not in the mood.

She cracked an eye open and saw a flash of dark hair. Her mother was walking through her room throwing stuff in a duffle bag and a backpack.

"What are you doing?" she mumbled, sitting up.

"Packing." She said quickly, throwing her entire underwear drawer into the duffle bag.

"Why?" Elena asked, crawling out of the bed and stretching.

"Because you're leaving." She stared at her mother.

"What?" she demanded, not believing what she was hearing.

"I'm not going to allow you to stay anymore. Not after… I'm just not." Isobel said, shaking her head forcefully before she continued to pack her stuff.

"What the fuck? You're kicking me out!" she exclaimed.

"Watch your language." John admonished from the doorway.

"Because you two are both fantastic role models for that." she scoffed.

She ripped her bags out of her mother's hands.

"Why are you doing this?" she demanded.

"You need to get out. We cannot let you stay in this life anymore. You don't deserve it." John said.

"I think I'll be the judge of what I deserve. And I want to stay. I'm not going anywhere with you two like you are. You need me. Last night proved to me that you need me." she said, throwing her bags on her bed.

"Last night proved to us that you don't need us. We are only dragging you down so you need to leave." Isobel said.

"No!" Elena shrieked.

"Elena do you know how long its been since me and your mother agreed on something? Shouldn't that show you that we've actually thought this through and discussed it?" her father asked.

"Well great. Since you both want me out then I guess I'll be out. You don't have to tell me again. I'll just get dressed and go if that's what you want." She snapped, pulling a pair of jeans and a t-shirt out of her bag.

She stomped to the bathroom and quickly dressed before coming back. Her parents were already out of her room and her bags were gone as well. She ran downstairs to see them by the door.

"Goodbye, Elena." Isobel said, handing her the backpack as John handed her the duffle bag.

"Fuck you both! I hate you!" she screamed, tears filling her eyes.

"That's good. That makes it easier." John said, not a hint of sadness in his voice.

His face actually looked a little cold. She glared at him before slamming the front door open and stomping out of the house. She walked all the way to the house where her two best friends lived.

"Matt!" she cried when she knocked on the door.

Tears were full on streaming down her face and her body was shaking with the force of her sobs. She always envisioned leaving her home. But she never once thought that she would be kicked out. The door opened to reveal Matt Donovan. He immediately pulled her into his arms and escorted her into the house.

"Did you parents get arrested again?" he asked as he wiped away her tears.

"No! I woke up this morning and they kicked me out!" she wailed, a new wave of tears taking over.

"Seriously? After everything you've done for them?" he asked, sounding a little angry.

She nodded and bent over, burying her head in her hands.

"Elena?" a voice asked.

She looked up to see Vicki in the doorway.

"What's wrong sweetie?" she asked, sitting by her and wrapped her arms around her.

Elena gestured to Matt as she was too busy crying to speak.

"Her parents kicked her out." he said through gritted teeth.

After a few more minutes of sobbing and hot tea, she finally got herself under control.

"What are you going to do?' Vicki asked.

"I don't know. I want to stay here to be with you guys… but…" Elena trailed off.

"You don't have anything else holding you here. We get it, Elena." Matt said.

"I was thinking about going to New York City." She said.

"Wow? The big city? What's there?" he asked.

"Um, the big city." Vicki said as if he were ridiculous.

"No, not just that. I think that Dad's brother, Grayson, and his wife Miranda live there. I have no idea how to get a hold of them though. I don't think I've seen them since I was five." Elena sighed, combing her hair out with her fingers.

"So you go to New York, find a phonebook, and voila!" Vicki said with a grin.

"You just want me to go so that you can visit me." Elena said, grinning.

"Well of course I do." She said, hugging Elena.

"But I also want to see you happy. And I know that your uncle and aunt are probably good people considering that they never speak to your parents." Elena smiled at her.

"Thank you guys. Really. I love you both." she said.

They both smiled at her and hugged her at the same time, squishing her between them.

* * *

It turned out that speaking to Vicki and Matt was just the push that she needed. So there she was, getting off the train at Penn Station. She walked up to a vendor and asked them where she could find a phonebook. They simply waved her off when they learned she wasn't going to buy anything. So she walked off and asked someone else. After about ten people she gave up and walked up the stairs and outside to the air of New York City. It was unlike anything she'd ever seen because she'd never been outside of Mystic Falls before. She knew that, because it was later in the day, that it was much less crowded than normal.

She looked around and caught sight of a very tall building. So tall, in fact, it could only be one building. That was the Empire State Building. She immediately started walking towards it. Maybe they would have a phone book. After walking for three blocks, she finally reached the outside of the large building.

"Tickets! Going up? Tickets for the Empire State Building Observatory! Going up?" several men were shouting around her.

As she walked by, she felt uncomfortable with the leers that they were all sending her. One of them even dared to stop her and ask for her number. She quickly scurried around the corner and was only met with more of them. She tried to dodge them as best she could but their creepy glances bothered her greatly. She turned the corner again and ended up on 33rd and 5th avenue. As she looked up, she realized that it was beginning to get dark and she sighed heavily. She really didn't want to be out in a city that she didn't know after dark.

She peeked inside of the doors to the building and saw that there was more creepy men in there. No way in hell she would be going anywhere near them again. She crossed the street and began to walk towards 6th avenue/Broadway. Perhaps she would find a post office. She knew that they would have a phone book. She was rewarded when about halfway down the street, a post office stood there in all its glory. Unfortunately it was closed. She almost wanted to burst into tears at the sight.

That was the moment that she began to regret coming to New York City. Why didn't she just ask to stay with Matt and Vicki. They would have taken her in gladly. It wouldn't have mattered to them as their mother was in Long Beach with a guy named Pete. She sighed. First the next morning, she would find a way to get back to Mystic Falls and label this as an ultimate failure. She was never going to find her uncle and aunt in this big city even if she could find a phonebook. She knew that they were semi-wealthy so they were unlikely to even be in the phonebook.

She began to walk again and was surprised to see that she was passing strip clubs across the street from the Empire State Building. She knew that New York was different but she had no idea that there would be strip clubs so close to a place where serious business happened. Just as she stumbled over a trash bag in the middle of the sidewalk, a man barreled into her and wrenched her small purse out of her grip.

"No!" she shouted.

But it was too late, he was already gone and the crowds had dwindled enough that no one even noticed her predicament. All of her money was gone along with her phone.

"That's bad luck." An voice with an English accent said out of nowhere.

She turned to see a rather beautiful woman leaning against the door of one of the strip clubs.

"Thanks for the insight." She snapped, turning to walk away.

"Hey, I was just about to offer you help. Is there anyone you need to call. You can do it in here?" it was then that Elena noticed the fishnet stockings and really tall heels with a black pea coat.

She was a stripper.

"No thanks." Elena said, shaking her head.

"You're seriously going to refuse help just because I'm inviting you into a strip club? What are you some kind of spoiled bitch?" she asked.

Elena turned and glared at her.

"I just got robbed. Excuse me if I don't want to risk my safety further by going into a fucking strip club." She shot back.

The woman suddenly laughed.

"I like you. This is midtown Manhattan. You aren't exactly in the Bronx. This place is safe. We've got a fantastic bouncer and everything. Come on." the woman said, walking forward and grabbing Elena's arm and dragging her inside before she could protest.

There was actually only a desk with a man sitting at it and stairs leading to what was probably the actual strip club.

"Hey Ric." The woman said.

"Hey Rose. Who is this?" he asked, looking at Elena with a confused look.

"A girl who just got her purse stolen outside the club." Rose shrugged.

"In Midtown Manhattan. You've got bad luck." He informed her.

Elena bit back a snarky remark, not wanting to get kicked out of the club. She could really use that phone call.

"I'm Elena." She said instead, unsure of whether to offer her hand to him to shake.

She did anway, uncaring of how weird it was to be shaking someone's hand in a strip club.

"Alaric, nice to meet you Elena. You better get up there Rose. You know how the boss man doesn't like lateness." He said.

"Come lucky. Let's get you to that phone." Rose said.

"Lucky?" Elena asked, following her to the stairs.

"Yeah, I just came up with that. I think I'm going to make it stick. Ooh maybe it should be your stage name." Rose said with twinkling eyes.

"Why do I need a stage name? I'm not a strip…" Elena trailed off, looking at her.

"Don't worry, I'm not offended." She said with a grin.

She sighed with relief. When they reached the top of the stairs, Elena nodded. This was what she envisioned a strip club to look like. Darkly lit with tables everywhere except for the areas where the stage extended. Instead of being one simple square, the stage snaked off into several legs with poles at the end. Almost naked girls and, in some cases, very naked girls were dancing on the stage and on men's laps. Tables surrounded all of the legs and booths lined the walls. Rose led her past the tables and to the bar where females in skimpy uniforms grabbed drinks to take them to customers. She looked around to see a man standing at the top of a spiral staircase. He was looking around with a pleased look. When his eyes fell on her, he frowned.

She immediately felt a chill run down her spine as he began to walk down the stairs without taking his eyes off of her.

"Rose, I think I'm going to go. Thank you for trying to help me." Elena said, wanting to get out of there as soon as possible.

Before she managed to walk away, a hand clamped down on her upper arm. She looked up to see the man who caught sight of her.

"Who is this?" he asked Rose gruffly, a hint of a southern accent clear in his voice.

"It's ok, Frederick. She's was robbed outside the club and I offered to let her have a phone call." Rose said, trying to diffuse the situation.

His eyes roamed over Elena, taking in her two bags and simple clothing.

"How old are you?" he asked.

"Thirty." She replied, not knowing why she was getting snarky with a man in a strip club.

He glowered at her and his grip on her arm tightened.

"You are in my strip club and you will answer me honestly." He said.

"Eighteen." She whimpered, feeling pain radiating through her arm.

He loosened his hold and she sighed with relief.

"Come upstairs." He said, not giving her a choice as he dragged her away. "No need to come, Rose. You need to get ready to go on. You're almost late." He said, not even having to look back to know that she was following.

"I really don't mean to cause any trouble. Rose offered me a phone call. My phone and my money got stolen. I just need to call someone to come get me." Elena pleaded over the loud music.

He ignored her as he took her up the stairs. She stumbled and almost fell a few times, earning glares from him. When they finally made it up, he opened the door to reveal and normal lit office and pulled her inside.

"Now, you need to use the phone?" he asked, pointing the phone.

She looked at him hesitantly.

"Go ahead. You are sticking out like a sore thumb in my club. If letting you use the phone gets you out of here soon I will allow it." she lunged for the phone and quickly dialed Matt and Vicki's number.

"We're sorry. The number you are trying to call has been disconnected." An automated voice said.

She cursed quietly. She forgot that Matt never paid the phone bill because he didn't think it was important. She didn't know their cell phone numbers by heart as they were in her phone. She didn't want to bother to call her parents because they never answered their phones. She had one last resort.

"Do you have a phone book?" she asked softly, looking at the intimidating man.

He sighed and yanked one out of a drawer of his desk before handing it to her.

"Thank you." She said, flipping through it quickly.

Finally she found the Gs and ran her finger down the list as she tried to find the number. It went straight from Francis Gilbert to Helen Gilbert. Further down it went from Marvin Gilbert to Molly Gilbert. No Grayson and no Miranda. Just her luck. She slammed it closed and buried her head in her hands. She had nothing. No money. No phone. No contacts. She was alone in a strip club in the middle of Manhattan with nothing. She couldn't help it as tears sprung to her eyes.

"Oh shit. Please don't cry." The man, Frederick, said as she began shaking with sobs.

"I'm sorry. I just have nothing. I have no one. I'm all alone and I have no place to go!" she sobbed, feeling incredibly stupid and unlucky at that moment.

"Ok, here's the deal. I know I'm going to regret this but one of my waitresses just quit. I need a fill in and I could use you." He said.

"What?" she asked, sniffling as she looked up at him.

"I'm giving you a place to work." He shrugged.

"I appreciate that. But…" she trailed off, not wanting to say that she could never work at a strip club.

"But what?" he asked, his eyes narrowing dangerously.

She realized exactly what type of man he was. She'd seen the exact same type in her parents' friend group. He didn't offer any favors without expecting something in return. And he didn't offer any favors without wanting what he was offering to happen. He wanted Elena to work there and he would do whatever it took to make it happen. She wasn't getting out of this and for the millionth time that day, she was cursing her terrible luck.

"Where will I stay?" she asked hesitantly, hoping that the question would stump him and he would let her leave.

"One of my girls lives across the street. She needs a new roommate and you are going to be just that. You get paid well and you get to keep your tips. You'll forget that your purse was ever stolen." He shrugged.

"And if I get enough money to go home?" she asked.

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it." he said, reaching out and offering her his hand.

When she stood, he pulled her close to him.

"What's your name?" he whispered, his face inches from hers and smelling of beer.

"Elena Gilbert." She said automatically.

"You'll need a different name for in here." He informed her.

She immediately said the first name she thought of.

"Katerina." She said automatically, feeling a pang of sadness at the mention of the name.

It wasn't exactly a good way to honor _her_, using her name as a stage name in a strip club. But at least she would feel close to her everytime someone called her by that name, even if it was a perverted strip club owner.

"Katerina. That's beautiful." he said, leaning in and pressing a kiss to her cheek.

"You and I are going to have so much fun, Katerina." He whispered before escorting her out of the room and downstairs.

They went through a door and into a large dressing room with girls scurrying everywhere, most of them half dressed.

"This will be your new roommate." He said, pointing to a dark skinned girl putting dark red lipstick on.

"Bonnie Bennett aka Sierra meet Elena Gilbert aka Katerina. Get to know each other, you'll be living together. Bonnie, give her four waitress uniforms in her size." Frederick said before walking out.

Bonnie smiled warmly at her.

"Let's get you some clothes." She said, standing up and walking to a room with racks and racks of skimpy clothing.

"How did you end up working here? I saw you out there earlier with Rose. She said that you were robbed in front of the club?" Bonnie asked.

"Um, yeah. Unlucky I guess." She said, shrugging.

"Really unlucky. I live right across the street in the Herald Towers, that's the name of my apartment building, and I've always been perfectly safe here except from those handsy Empire State Building workers. They are just creepy. I was so grateful the day that Frederick banned them from coming in the club anymore. One of them actually tried to have sex with one of the girls right in the middle of the club." Bonnie said, shaking her head.

When she turned to give her the clothes and saw her staring at her wide-eyed, she backtracked quickly.

"Oh no, it doesn't happen a lot. It actually rarely ever happens." She assured her.

Elena nodded but deep inside she was wondering what the hell she got herself into.

* * *

**Author's Note: So this is both my first AH/AU TVD story and also my first M rated story. We'll see how it goes. I actually live in Manhattan in Herald Towers (where Bonnie lives). Everything is true. There are strip clubs behind my apartment. There are creepy weird guys outside the Empire State Building who ask every young-ish girl for her number. They are really creepy and actually scare me a bit. Sorry got off on a tangent. Review please! Please please please!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own TVD**

**Warning: Adult, sexual scenes. I'll put a warning where the scene starts and you can skip past it if you want.**

After Bonnie gave her the skimpy outfits and explained which go with what days, she led Elena to the lockers and gave her the combination to the only empty one.

"I have to go on but… oh Care! I know that you don't have to go on for another hour. Do you mind showing Elena around?" Bonnie asked a blonde girl who was primping her hair.

"Of course." She said, turning and giving Elena a bright smile.

Bonnie hugged Elena quickly and then took off to the door that led to the club.

"You're new here?" the woman asked.

"Yeah, I'm Elena. Or… Katerina I guess." She said, sounding unsure of herself.

"We don't use stage names back here. I'm Caroline." She said, pulling Elena into a hug.

From the three that she'd met, Elena was slowly deciding that strippers weren't all bad.

"Before I take you on a tour, Frederick will not allow you to be out in his club wearing that." she said, looking at Elena's clothes with a grimace.

"Luckily I brought an extra outfit and you and I are about the same size. Come on." she dragged her to the room with the clothes in it and pulled out a garment bag.

When she unzipped it, it showed a black one-shoulder lace mini dress. The one sleeve was long and made of black lace. Underneath the lace was a black slip like material. It looked like it would barely cover her ass much less anything else.

"Um…" she said, staring at it as if it were the last thing she would want to touch.

"You are going to have to get used to dressing in much less clothing than this." Caroline said with a soft smile, gesturing around the room that they were in.

At that moment, Caroline was in a tiny leather outfit that barely covered anything so Elena decided that the dress wouldn't be all that bad. She quickly changed into it with Caroline helping her fix it up perfectly. Then she handed her a pair of five inch black pumps. Elena grimaced at them.

"Part of the job." She shrugged.

After she put them on, Caroline dragged her back into the main dressing room and sat her at her own station.

"Never wear your hair straight again. Frederick hates it. He either likes it curly or in a sexy updo. I'll do the updo for you right now. Bonnie can help you when you come to work tomorrow." Caroline said.

She quickly twisted Elena's hair into a really beautiful messy bun. Then she put a black headband in and grinned at her work.

"I'm awesome." She shrugged, putting lipstick on Elena before making her stand up and twirl.

Then she clapped her hands and the loud dressing room became quiet.

"Ladies, this is our new addition Elena aka Katerina. She's taking over Ivy's job. Be nice to her. She's new to the city too." Caroline said.

"Welcome Elena!" they all chorused before going back to fixing themselves up.

"How did you know I'm new to the city?" Elena asked, following her out into the club.

"Because you are so lost it's not even funny." Caroline laughed, pulling her to the bar.

"Harper!" she called, slamming her hand on the counter.

The bartender turned and smiled at her.

"What can I get you, Miss Mercedes?" he asked, smiling at her.

Caroline rolled her eyes.

"I want a margarita, Patron Silver, rocks, no salt." She said, turning to Elena with raised eyebrows.

"Same?" she asked.

Having seen her parents destroying themselves with alcohol, she attempted to stay away from it as much as she could.

"Coming right up, ladies." Harper said, tapping the bar and pulling out two glasses.

"Harper this is Elena aka Katerina." Caroline said, gesturing to Elena.

"It's nice to meet you Miss Katerina. You must be my new waitress." He said with a wink.

"I guess I am." She said, smiling back.

Unlike Frederick, Harper actually seemed nice not creepy. Speaking of Frederick, she shrieked when a hand slapped her ass. When she whirled around, she saw Frederick standing there looking proud of himself. Elena had no idea how to respond to that but apparently Caroline did.

"Hands off, Frederick." She snapped.

"And where exactly do you get off on telling me what to do, Mercedes? I do believe that you work for me." Frederick said, his smile gone and replaced with a dangerous scowl.

Caroline simply narrowed her eyes at him and crossed her arms.

"Might I remind you that the last girl who stood up to me ended up in a coma? Don't you remember Pearl?" Frederick said, opening his coat to reveal a flash of silver that looked almost like a gun.

Elena almost felt her heart stop. What the hell did she get herself into? Frederick simply grinned at them both and walked away.

"What the hell?" she breathed, watching as he walked up to his office.

"You get used to it. Most of the time it's just empty threats." Caroline shrugged.

"The fact that there are threats at all is what bothers me! Why don't you leave when he does this?" Elena demanded.

Caroline laughed as she took the drinks from Harper and handed one to Elena.

"No one ever quits once they work for Frederick. They wait for dismissal." She said, shaking her head as she took a swig of her drink.

Elena did the same, wincing as the tequila burned her throat.

* * *

After two months of working, buying an entire new wardrobe to please Frederick, and learning her way around New York City, Elena was ready to leave. But every time she started to walk to his office to tell him she was quitting, she thought back to Caroline's words the first night that she was there. No one quits working for Frederick. He dismisses them. She didn't know the true meaning of that until one night two weeks ago.

_It was one in the morning and the place was beginning to close up. Alaric had come upstairs to escort the drunken and rowdy men downstairs. They'd had a bachelor party there that night. Elena sighed as she sat in a chair and slipped off her tall heels, rubbing her aching feet._

"_You think you're in pain, try dancing around that pole for three hours." Bonnie mumbled, sitting next to her and pulling her hair back into a ponytail._

"_I think I did fifty lap dances in one hour. Do you know how many fucking erections I had to deal with?" Caroline whined, laying her head on the bar._

_All of the sudden, three tequila shots appeared in front of them._

"_Thanks Harper." They chorused, all downing the shots in one._

_Elena wasn't a drunk but drinking did take of the edge when she worked in such a hostile and stressful environment. Alaric made his way back upstairs after locking the doors and sat at the bar next to Caroline._

"_Bourbon." He said grumpily._

"_What's your issue?" Bonnie asked, all of them looking at them._

"_One of those guys just mistook me for one of you. Apparently my g-string sparkles in the moonlight." He said grumpily._

_All the girls giggled and Caroline patted his back comfortingly. They all four jumped when a scream sounded through the club. They turned to see Frederick dragging Anna down the stairs._

"_I said you can't go and that's my final warning! If you ever try to leave again I will put you on the fucking streets as one of my whores!" he growled, throwing her down the last few steps and she landed on her hands and knees sobbing._

"_I'm sorry." She cried, turning over and backing away from him as he walked down._

_He bent down and slapped her, the sound echoing through the quiet room._

"_Hey!" Elena exclaimed, jumping up and running to Anna's side._

"_Elena!" Caroline called, sounding panicked._

"_That was entirely unnecessary." She growled at Frederick, wrapping her arms around the trembling girl._

_He glared down at her and then yanked her up. She saw the slap coming and braced herself for it. But that didn't help the radiating pain that went through her skull. She fell to the ground and heard someone yelling at Frederick to calm down._

"_I will put both of you sluts on the street if you don't learn to do what I fucking say!" he shouted before stomping upstairs and slamming the door shut._

_Elena found the strength to crawl over to Anna and help her up and to the dressing room. She sat her in a chair and placed a cool, wet rag on her red cheek._

"_Thank you." Anna said through her sobs._

"_I'm sorry that happened to you." Elena whispered._

_Caroline and Bonnie came up to Elena and embraced her as tears ran down her own face._

Ever since then, they had accepted Anna as one of their best friends and protected her against Frederick without him knowing. Apparently Anna had heard from a cousin and they offered for her to live with them in Texas. She was going to go but she ended up having to turn them down because of Frederick's refusal to let her go. The whole situation made Elena wonder exactly what happened to the Ivy girl that she replaced. Did Frederick let her go or did she try to leave?

* * *

Elena sighed as she walked out of the apartment building and across the street to the club. Instead of being the server there, she was the served that night. There was a party and Frederick hired an entire catering group. All of the girls were invited to look beautiful and represent him well. Apparently he was attempting to shmooze some investors to help him build a new restaurant with a back room in the Upper East Side. Of course, the back room would be a strip club.

They were simply there to flatter the investors into wanting to work with Frederick. All of them had a part to play that night. Unfortunately Elena's was the worst.

"_I want you to be my date." Frederick said with a leer._

"_What?" she asked, staring at him._

_He'd pulled her up to his office before she left for the night. Bonnie and Caroline were waiting downstairs for her._

"_I need a beautiful girl on my arm and who better than you?" he asked._

"_And if I don't want to?" she asked hesitantly._

_His eyes flashed dangerously and she understood. She didn't get a choice in the matter._

"_Wear something slutty. I need you to make me look good." He said, waving her away in dismissal._

So that night she was getting ready in a metallic short dress with a scooped neckline. She'd planned on wearing regular black pumps but a pair of Louboutin slingback pumps showed up at her door earlier that day with a perverted message from Frederick. She put on a black necklace to balance it out and made sure that her curled hair looked perfect before walking out to show Bonnie and Caroline.

"Slutty enough?" she asked with a bored look.

"Elena honey. I don't think you can pull off slutty. You're too innocent for that." Bonnie said sadly.

"Innocent?" she asked, making a face.

"You're such a virgin anyone can tell." Caroline said from where she was fixing her make up on the couch.

"Then if Frederick wanted a girl who can look slutty, why didn't he choose Rose or Dana or… I don't know. Anyone else?" she asked, ignoring the virgin comment as it hit a little too close to home.

Yeah she was a virgin. After all she'd been through, not having had sex was the least of her problems.

"Because he's taken a liking to you." Bonnie said.

"Oh joy."

Elena didn't know just how much she was regretting the party until she walked in the door. All she wanted to do was run the other way and curl up on the couch to watch a movie.

"Ah here she is, gentlemen. My beautiful date Katerina." Frederick said, grabbing her and pulling her over to a group of men before she could say a word in protest.

"She is a good looking girl, Frederick." One of the men joked.

She shifted uncomfortably as all of their eyes roamed her body. It made her feel as though she was naked instead of covered in a dress. Instead of cursing them out like she wanted, she gave them a bright smile.

"Thank you." She said charmingly, not wanting to give Frederick any reason to be angry with her.

"Is this one of your girls, Frederick?" one of the other men asked.

"She's a waitress. Not a dancer." Frederick said, his hand slipping from her lower back down to her ass.

"Why not? She has those long legs and nice tits. You should get her on that stage." They all laughed at the comment while Elena blushed furiously.

"Frederick. Would you like a drink?" she asked, smiling at him.

He looked at her suspiciously so she made her look as innocent as possible.

"I would love a whiskey sweetheart." He said.

She smiled and nodded. As she turned to walk away, a wandering hand groped her ass. She wanted so badly to turn around and slap the grins off of the men's faces but she just kept walking.

"Will I have to deal with this all night?" she whimpered when she approached the bar.

It was strange to see Harper being served drinks instead of serving the drinks.

"A whiskey on the rocks and vanilla vodka with pineapple juice on the rocks." Elena said to the unfamiliar bartender.

It hadn't taken her long to figure out her drink of choice. They were allowed free drinks when they were working. Probably because Frederick wanted to get them buzzed so that they wouldn't fight too much against the pervy men's wandering hands. Happy customers meant money. And money was something Frederick could not resist.

"Yes you will." Caroline said to her right.

Elena groaned before she took the drinks back to Frederick. Following him around acting like she was his slut was not fun. Having to do it for three hours, she almost went crazy. She had lost count at how many times Frederick or someone else groped her. When the party finally dwindled down she managed to escape Frederick's side and sit at the bar with Caroline and Bonnie.

"All right, everyone can go. Except Elena. I would like to speak to you in my office." He said.

Elena felt her heart sink. What could he possibly want now? As she ascended the stairs, Frederick turned and glared at the people who hadn't moved yet. Mainly Caroline, Anna, Bonnie, and Alaric.

"I said go." he growled.

They all gave Elena a regretful look and walked out of the club. She felt as though she was about to start hyperventilating when he opened the door for her. She stood nervously twisting her hands as he closed it.

"I have to say, you played the part well. Laughing at the jokes, getting me drinks, not snapping back when the men made their comments. I'm impressed with you Elena." Frederick said.

"Thanks." She whispered, unable to make her voice louder.

"When you walked away the men suggested, to make things fun, that I fuck you over my desk tonight." He said, walking towards her and standing dangerously close.

She could smell the whiskey on his breath. He'd had nine or ten drinks that night. She'd lost count. Now she was regretting getting him all those drinks. She just didn't want to give him any reason to be angry with her. Now she might have given him a way to rape her.

"But they misjudged our relationship. We don't do that, Frederick." She breathed, trying to inch away from him.

His hands suddenly grabbed her arms.

"You don't get to tell me what I don't do." He growled.

"Frederick!" she shrieked when he threw her over his desk, stomach down with her legs dangling over the side.

"You look so sexy, bending over my desk." He said, pressing himself against her so that she could feel his erection pressing into her ass.

"Stop!" she pleaded, squirming against him.

He held her hands down on the desk and sighed.

"Oh yeah baby. Keep moving your hips like that. That feels so good." He said in a husky voice.

**BAD PART DON'T READ IF YOU DON'T WANT TO**

She immediately stopped moving and he growled, sitting up and pulling her hands behind her back. He held them with one hand while the other began roaming her body. All the way down her back to her covered behind. Then suddenly, without warning, he pushed the flimsy material of the dress up to her hips.

"Stop! Please don't do this!" she cried, attempting to break free from his grasp but he was too strong for her.

"Nice panties." He said, running his hands over her silver silky boy shorts.

Then he pushed them aside and suddenly two of his fingers were inside of her, invading her. It hurt. She wasn't wet like she knew that a woman had to be when something was inside of her.

"No!" she screamed.

The more she squirmed the deeper his fingers went. Then he began to pump them in and out of her. A searing pain went through her entire lower body as she wailed loudly

"Stoooop!" she shouted, tears running down her face as she tried to fight against him.

He pulled his fingers out and made an appreciative noise.

"You were a virgin baby." The past tense of his words made her sob.

She must have been bleeding.

**YOU CAN START READING AGAIN**

Suddenly his weight disappeared and she sagged to the ground crying.

"Elena?" a familiar voice asked.

She looked up through her tears to see Alaric.

"He tried… he was…" she choked out.

"I know, let's get you home." he said, lifting her up bridal style and carrying her out of Frederick's office.

"But he'll be mad tomorrow." She protested, looking back at Frederick passed out on the floor with her blood on his fingers.

"Frederick never remembers anything from when he was drunk. You don't have to worry about it." he said soothingly.

"Oh my God! Elena!" Caroline exclaimed.

"She'll be all right. She's just shaken up. He didn't get far with her. We need to get her home." Alaric said softly.

As she drifted off into the darkness she welcomed it. The last thing she felt was the throbbing in her lower body that reminded her that she lost something that night even if he didn't go all the way.

**Author's Note: I know! That was evil! I am establishing Frederick as the really bad guy of the story, of course. Next chapter it gets worse and then better. Review please!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own TVD**

"What do we do?" Caroline asked, standing in the kitchen worredly.

"I don't know." Bonnie whispered.

Alaric looked over at them with a stern expression that told them everything they need to know. Help or sit down and shut up. They slowly made their way over to the couch and kneeled in front of it.

"Elena, sweetie?" Bonnie asked, brushing her hair out of her face.

She didn't respond, her wide eyes still staring straight forward. She had been exactly this way ever since she'd finally woken up. That had been an hour ago.

"Should we take her to the hospital?" Caroline asked Alaric.

"No." Elena finally whispered.

They all looked at her in surprise.

"They ask questions. They'll want to know what's wrong with me. Frederick will kill me if I say anything to anyone. I like my life how it is." She said, curling her legs up underneath her, wincing at the sharp pain.

Then tears sprung to her eyes.

"Oh Elena." Bonnie said, standing up and hugging her, sliding on the couch next to her.

Caroline jumped up and hugged her from the other side.

"Do you want me to leave?" Alaric asked, feeling suddenly uncomfortable.

"No please. Don't leave. I don't feel safe, yet." Elena said, catching his hand before he could walk away.

"I'll stay." He agreed, pulling off his suit jacket and laying it across the back of the couch before sitting in the recliner.

"I was a virgin." Elena whimpered, tears falling down her cheeks.

"But… Alaric told us that he never…" Caroline trailed off.

"He didn't." she said, shaking her head quickly.

"Oh honey, you're still a virgin." Bonnie said, smiling warmly at her.

"But… his fingers." Elena said, looking confused.

"That doesn't mean anything. It takes a lot more than a few fingers to take something so important from you. You're a little firecracker Elena. Frederick can't handle you. You scare him, sweetie. Also, he has pretty skinny fingers" Caroline said with a grin, stroking her hair soothingly.

She nodded, looking down at the bruises he left on her wrists and wincing. They were already getting dark.

"How am I supposed to go to work tomorrow?" she asked, her voice cracking at the thought.

"You go in with us by your side ready to protect you from anything." Alaric piped up, smiling at her.

She smiled hesitantly back at him.

"And you scream like a banshee if Frederick ever tries to touch you again. We don't let him do that. To any of us." Caroline said assuringly.

* * *

Elena expected a lot of things when she went into the club the next day. She expected that Frederick would be angry at least. But when she walked in, he was laughing and doing a shot with Harper. Then he looked at Elena and grinned at her.

"My date! You did so wonderfully last night." He said, coming up and lifting her hand, not noticing her attempt to jerk away from him, and kissed it roughly.

"T-thank you, Frederick." She stammered, unsure of what to say.

She saw Caroline nodding out of the corner of her eye. They told her that if Frederick didn't remember, she wasn't to provoke him in any way that could make him remember.

"You are welcome Elena. Now go get ready." He said, swatting her ass as she walked by.

She let out a squeak of shock before running to the dressing room.

"You did good." Bonnie said, hugging her immediately.

Elena's expression of gratitude was interrupted by someone's arms thrown around her. She almost screamed until she recognized who it was.

"Rose." She sighed.

"Guess what?" the woman said with a huge grin.

"What?" her and Bonnie asked, smiling at her.

She shoved her left hand out and they caught sight of a huge ring on her ring finger.

"You're engaged!" Bonnie squealed hugging her tightly.

"Trevor popped the question last night after the party. I was so surprised. He's been acting so strangely the past month that I thought for sure that he was breaking up with me." Rose said, sounding thrilled.

"I'm really happy for you, Rose." Elena said.

Suddenly her grin faded.

"Trevor's bar is coming along great. He thinks that he can support me just fine. Since I have worked for Frederick the longest, I was going to ask if… if I could quit." She said, looking worried.

"Rose I have never seen you get into anything with Frederick. He knows how loyal you've been for ten years now. He can't expect that you'll be here forever. It's not like you can dance on a pole with a rock on your finger. That usually turns off the men." Caroline said, coming up behind them.

"Yeah, you should at least talk to Frederick about the possibility." Bonnie encouraged her.

Rose looked at Elena and Elena simply nodded.

"Ok I'm going to do it. After work today." Rose said, smiling widely as she hugged them all and then ran off to do her make up.

"That's so exciting." Bonnie said.

"I pray for the day that happens to me so I can get the hell out of here." Elena murmured.

"Well find a rich husband and you can. If anything else, he can pay Frederick off." Elena was horrified that the words coming out of Caroline's mouth sounded so normal to her now.

A year ago, she never would have entertained the idea of a man paying for her so that he could marry her. Now it almost seemed like a good idea. Though she would never be able to do it. She was still only eighteen after all.

The day was actually incredibly boring and slow. Elena only got groped twice and she thought that was pretty good. As they all went to the dressing room, they wished Rose good luck as she went up to the office. One by one the girls filed out of the club, down the stairs and out. Alaric was saying goodbye at the door like he always did. Elena was walking with Bonnie while Caroline was up ahead with Anna.

"Oh shit! I forgot my jacket!" Elena exclaimed when the cold air from outside hit her.

"Go ahead, Bonnie. I'll walk Elena home." Alaric said assuringly.

She nodded at Bonnie and her friend went ahead and walked out with Caroline and Anna. Elena smiled gratefully at Alaric before running upstairs. She heard raised voices from the office as she left the dressing room and was immediately worried for Rose's safety. When the door wrenched open, she hid in the shadows of the stairs where no one could see her. She saw one of Frederick's goons dragging something out of the office and down the stairs. It was Rose. She was kicking and groaning. Then Elena noticed that a gag was in her mouth.

Frederick followed messing with something silver in his hands. Silver. It was his gun. What was he doing? Elena's heart began pounding. He wouldn't kill Rose. He wouldn't dare.

"I told you, you're never leaving my club. You decided to argue with me. So now you're never leaving my club alive." Rose screamed around the gag as he pointed the gun at her head.

A muted pop sounded and she was still, blood leaking out of the bullet wound in her head. Elena almost screamed but she didn't want to alert Frederick to the fact that she was there. She silently slipped off her heels and then ran down the stairs quietly. Alaric was waiting for her with wide eyes. He knew what happened. She launched into his arms and he yanked her outside and across the street faster than she knew was possible.

"Elena did he see you?" he asked, his hands on her shoulders.

She shook her head, unable to process what happened. Rose was dead. Frederick shot Rose. He killed her. Killed her. She. Was. Dead. A strangled cry escaped from Elena's throat.

"Oh God, Alaric. He killed her. I saw it." she whimpered, her hands clutching at his shirt.

"I know, I'm so sorry you had to see that, Elena." He said, embracing her.

"No, I can't be weak. He killed Rose. He attacked me. He's been doing this to girls a long time and he's going to keep doing it. Someone needs to put a stop to it." Elena said.

"What are you talking about, Elena?" Alaric asked, looking alarmed.

"I'm going to turn him in." she said, feeling relieved as she finally mustered up the strength to say the words.

It was the right thing to do. Elena had been ignoring her moral code for the past few months but now it was overtaking her. Turning Frederick in, making him pay for what he did to her, to Anna, to Rose, and to countless other girls was the right thing to do.

"Elena you know how dangerous this is." Alaric said.

"I don't care. If I don't try he's going to keep doing this." She said.

"Elena…" Alaric began.

"No! You are not going to dissuade me from this! It's the right thing to do!" she exclaimed, turning and running away from him.

She momentarily forgot that she was still in her fishnets with high heels and a black trench coat that went to her knees with not much underneath. It didn't matter. She needed to do this. She kept repeating it under her breath as she hailed a cab and told him to take her to police headquarters. The last thing she saw before it pulled away was Frederick coming out of the club with a shit-eating grin on his face.

"Fuck you." She said under her breath, hoping that this was going to work with everything that she had.

* * *

As she walked into the shiny, busy building, she felt very out of place. She was suddenly wishing that she'd changed into normal clothes before coming her. Her hair was still perfectly fixed and her make up still caked on her face. But she felt like a spotlight was on her.

"Can I help you?" the lady at the front desk asked, looking Elena up and down with a sneer.

"Y-yes. I think so. I need to report a crime." She said.

"What kind of crime? So I can point you in the right direction." The woman said, pointing to the signs that said.

"M-murder." She said quietly.

The woman didn't look fazed at all.

"Fill one of these out and I'll have an officer be with you in a moment." The receptionist said, handing her a form.

"No!" she exclaimed.

The receptionist raised her eyebrows.

"I need to speak to a detective or something. This is serious. I'm pretty sure that the man I'm reporting has been at least turned in before if not arrested." Elena said.

"Who is that?" the woman asked.

Elena looked around the room sneakily before leaning in.

"Frederick Martin?" she whispered, her paranoia seeping in.

The woman's eyes widened and for the first time she seemed to be taking Elena seriously as she picked up a phone and frantically dialed a number.

"Detective. I have a walk-in. Says she knows something about Frederick Martin. Yes sir. Yes I'll keep her right here. See you in a moment, sir." The woman said respectfully.

"Do you need anything? Coffee? A soda? Water?" she asked, standing up and escorting Elena to a plastic chair by the desk.

Elena was shocked by the woman's sudden change in attitude.

"No. Thank you." Elena said, confused.

The receptionist nodded but didn't move from her side for the next three minutes.

"Thank you, Denise. I can take it from here." A smooth voice said.

Elena turned to see a handsome man in a suit walking towards her. He looked her up and down before offering her his hand.

"I'm a detective here. Come with me." he said.

"Don't I get to know your name?" Elena asked, hurrying after him as best she could.

"Detective Salvatore." He said, turning his vivid blue eyes on her.

"Is that your first name, Detective?" she asked, glaring at him as she stopped.

He turned to look at her.

"Why are you stopping?" he asked.

"Because I've just witnessed a crime, the first crime I've ever witnessed. I'm in shock but I'm still freaking out. I saw a friend shot. Don't you think that you and your stupid receptionist Denise could be a little fucking nicer to me?" Elena demanded, feeling her fire bubbling up in her.

He looked surprised.

"I apologize. I'm just… this is a very important case and we haven't had a break in it in a long time." he said.

"What do you mean?" she asked, her eyebrows knitting together.

"We've been trying to nab Frederick Martin for over five years now. If you come with me, I'll show you." He said, gesturing to the end of the hallway.

"What's your first name?" she asked before she started walking.

"Damon. Damon Salvatore." He said, looking confused.

"Well Damon, I would appreciate it if you would say please." She said with crossed arms.

He suddenly laughed.

"Will you please come with me so that you can tell me what you know?" he asked.

"Better." She said, nodding as she followed him.

He opened the door and she walked into a much more business looking area. Men were sitting at desks chatting on phones and typing on computers.

"What is this?" she asked.

"This is homicide." He said.

He led her to a room and she walked in. Her eyes widened when the first thing she saw was a big picture of Frederick on a bulletin board. He was glaring at the camera. It must have been a mug shot. Several other men were in the room.

"This is my partner, Stefan Salvatore." Damon said, pointing to one of them men, as handsome as Damon.

She looked at them quizzically.

"We're also brothers." Stefan said, smiling slightly at her.

She nodded.

"This is Tyler Lockwood. He's a detective in narcotics. And this is Liz Forbes. She works trying to bring down prostitution rings." He introduced her to the people in the room.

"It's nice to meet you all. What does this have to do with me and my… information?" Elena asked.

"You are the first… dare I say, employee, of Frederick Martin to ever come to us. Everything we've gathered from him is from following him, his previous arrest records and other such things. We've never had a first hand account of his actions in the five years that we've been pursuing a case against him." Liz explained.

"How do you know I'm his employee?" Elena asked, feeling offended.

They all looked at her outfit and she shifted uncomfortably.

"I didn't think about changing, I apologize. I don't wear these clothes on a regular basis. Do you have anything that I can change into?" she asked.

"Of course. You should be comfortable. It's going to be a long night." Damon said, walking to the door.

"Wait, have you even asked her for her name?" Stefan asked.

"No… Denise didn't give it to me." Damon said.

"She didn't ask either." Elena informed him.

"What is it?" Tyler asked.

"Elena Gilbert. And yes I'm an employee of Frederick. I work at his club in midtown. I'm a waitress not a stripper. And today he killed one of my friends when she asked to leave." She explained.

All of them looked properly solemn for a moment.

"Elena, I know that you've been through a shock. But, if I may, you might just be the one thing that we need to take down this fucker." Damon said.

"Then I'll help however I can." She said honestly.

**Author's Note: There you go! Sorry about killing Rose, it was necessary for the story. Next chapter, if you review, I might just introduce a certain blonde haired blue eyed sexy detective. But only if you review!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I do not own TVD**

Half an hour later, Elena was in a dimly lit room with three leather couches, a small table, and full kitchen counter with an espresso machine. The walls were painted dark brown and there was fancy artwork on them. Elena found it hard to believe that this room was a part of the sterile looking police station with fluorescent lights.

"This looks more like a coffee shop than a police interrogation room." she said, watching as the detectives filed in and made themselves comfortable on a couch.

Detective Damon sat next to her and Detective Stefan on the other side.

"How are those clothes, Miss Gilbert?" Liz asked.

Elena looked down at the sweat pants and oversized hoodie that they gave her along with a pair of comfortable socks.

"They are a helluva lot better than fishnet tights and six-inch heels. And please, call me Elena. Miss Gilbert… it just sounds wrong." she said, smiling up at her.

"Why?" Tyler asked.

"Because I'm only nineteen-years-old. Well almost nineteen. I turn nineteen in a month. Whatever. It's still weird." She shrugged.

They all gaped at her.

"What?" she asked, feeling suddenly uncomfortable.

"When you came in here, cursing and demanding things… you seemed like you were much older than you are. I would have never guessed that you were eighteen-years-old." Liz said, looking a little sad.

"What were you doing working for Martin?" Damon asked, looking a little enraged.

"I… well I didn't have much of a choice." Elena said, feeling suddenly brought back to reality.

"No one does when it comes to Frederick Martin." Tyler said bitterly.

"Ok I'm confused. I'm sorry. I came in to report something that my boss, at a strip club, did. He killed one of my friends. One of my coworkers. Her name was Rose. I don't know her last name but she was the first person who was nice to me when I got to New York. I don't know anything about Frederick other than that he's a perverted asshole. So can anyone tell me why I'm talking to not only two homicide detectives, but a narcotics detective and a detective who works with sex trafficking?" Elena ranted, feeling a sudden release of emotions.

"Elena, Frederick Martin isn't just a perverted, homicidal strip club owner. He's so much more. Why do you think we've been trying to bring him down for five years?" Stefan said.

"I… what else is he?" she asked, feeling her fear increase over who she'd been working for the past few months.

"Stefan… you better go get her." Damon said.

"Damon, you know that it's dangerous for anyone to see her entering the NYPD." The other brother sighed.

"Then bring her in through the sewer. Elena needs someone who can relate. She's about to get a shitstorm released on her and she is only eighteen. She needs someone." Damon said, staring at Stefan.

"Who are you talking about?" she asked, feeling extremely out of the loop.

"You'll see." Damon and Stefan said at the same time.

"So you'll go get her?" Damon asked, smirking at his brother.

"Yeah. But only because she'll be pissed if I don't." Stefan said, standing up and walking out of the room.

"I'm so confused." Elena mumbled.

"Coffee?" Liz asked.

"Vodka." She countered, making Tyler laugh and Damon choke back chuckles.

"You're underage." Liz said, sounding a little offended.

"I worked in a strip club with a murderer as a boss. I think that me drinking alcohol is the least of your problems, Liz." She sighed. "But if it offends you, I will take a bottle of water." She said, standing up and shuffling over to the fridge.

When she settled back on the couch, the door opened.

"Ah. Elena this is Andie. She's my assistant and she'll be taking notes for us. Do you have the file?" Damon asked.

Elena's eyes widened when she saw the huge stack of papers in the woman's hands.

"Don't you mean the database? How is it possible that you have this much on Frederick Martin and you haven't caught him yet, boss?" Andie asked, setting the papers in his lap.

"Don't tease me, Andie." He said, narrowing his eyes at her.

"Sorry, Damon." She said, turning to Elena.

"I'm Andie." She said.

"Elena." She said, shaking her hand.

"All right, Elena. What I am about to tell you cannot go outside of this building. You will not only be putting your life in danger, you'll be putting a lot of people's lives in danger. This is information we have gathered over a period of five years so… it's a lot." Damon said.

"Can I ask questions?" she asked.

"Of course." He answered.

"Ok, first question. Why are you going to tell me all of this? Don't I just tell you what I saw and then I go live my life?" she asked.

"No, because by working for Frederick Martin and then coming to us, you have put yourself in a great deal of danger. We don't just expect you to dump your information on us and us to send you on your merry way. Before you tell us anything you deserve to know who you're talking about." Liz explained.

"Ok. This is scaring me a little." Elena admitted.

"It should. If it didn't, I would be worried." Damon said, smiling at her.

"Are you ready?" Tyler asked.

She took a deep breath.

"I… I guess." She murmured, her curiosity overtaking her fear.

"Frederick Martin is originally from Louisiana. New Orleans to be exact. He got involved in drugs down there; we think he was a runner. Eventually he got tired of being so low in the business and moved to New York in the early 90s. Started a strip club in the Bronx with money that his grandmother left to him. Right about that time, he moved up from drugs and violence into another business." Damon said.

"Murder?" Elena asked.

"Not exactly." Damon said.

"What business then?" Elena asked.

"Trafficking." Liz threw in.

"Oh, so that's why you're here. Drugs, homicide, trafficking." She said, pointing to the three different people.

"Yeah. He's a big guy here, huge, actually. That's why we're trying to bring him down. We bring Martin down, we bring a whole lot of the drug, murder, and trafficking business in New York City down." Damon explained.

"So, what you're telling me is that I've unintentionally got myself in the middle of a big illegal business in New York City?" Elena asked.

"Well… yeah." Tyler said.

"Dammit! If I only hadn't been kicked out by my fucking parents and then mugged by a fucking asshole in front of a fucking stripclub none of this would ever have happened." Elena said through gritted teeth, pulling her hair back out of her face and tying it up in a bun.

"So… you said that you didn't have much of a choice in working for him. What does that mean? Did he force you to do other things, prostitution?" Liz asked.

"No! No I was just a waitress. But I didn't really have a choice in working for him at all. At first he said he was just helping me out because all of my stuff got stolen. But I quickly learned that no one stops working for Frederick. He almost beat up a girl for trying to leave. I suffered his wrath too when I tried to stop him from hurting her." Elena said, touching her cheek where she still felt a little twinge when she thought about it.

"Yeah, that's pretty much how Frederick works. Did he do anything else to you?" Damon asked.

Elena knew what he was asking. Did he rape her? What was she supposed to say? Yes he tried, but he didn't get far. Why did it matter? It never actually happened. She shook her head.

"No." she shrugged.

They looked at her suspiciously for a moment but dropped it immediately when the door opened.

"Can I just say that I'm glad you live so close, brother?" Damon asked when Stefan stepped in.

"Yeah it helps when I have a fashion-obsessed girl living at my apartment who wants to be near 5th avenue at all times." Stefan countered, stepping aside to allow someone else to walk in.

"You know you love shopping with me, Detective Broody." The girl said, rolling her eyes.

She looked around the room with a bright smile.

"Damon, Tyler, Liz, Andie, girl I do not know but is in desperate need of a shopping trip." The girl said, looking Elena up and down with a wrinkled nose.

"Elena, you have now experienced one of the oh so delightful conversation starters of Alexia Branson." Damon said, gesturing to the girl.

"Please, call me Lexi." She said, bounding forward and sitting beside Elena.

"Oh ok. I'm Elena." She said.

"I know, Stefan kind of filled me in. But tell me your stage name. Those are always delightful conversation starters." Lexi said, winking at Damon.

"What?" she asked, wide-eyed.

"I'm a little curious too." Tyler shrugged, leaning forward and smiling at Elena.

"I… didn't know I had to tell you my… stage name. I'm not a stripper, by the way." Elena informed Lexi.

"I know. Frederick would never want someone as innocent looking as you on the pole. You are beautiful, by the way. If it helps, I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours." The other girl said.

"You were a stripper? For Frederick?" Elena asked.

"Well of course. For four years! Until he decided that I needed to get into some of his illegal businesses. Then I came straight here and met these lovely young detectives." Lexi said, smiling at Damon and Stefan.

"It never got to that point with me." Elena said, almost wishing that's what pushed her to come to the police station, not Rose's murder.

"Well I'm glad. Frederick is a perverted asshole." Lexi said, repeating Elena's words from earlier and making her smile. "My stage name was Ivy. I hated it but… I just had to pick one when I started working for him. I started out as a waitress and then moved to bartender." She explained.

"Wait a minute. You're Ivy? Frederick always threatened us by bringing you up. All the girls said you disappeared and well, we thought you were possibly dead." Elena said, everything suddenly making sense to her.

Lexi laughed loudly and shook her head.

"It's because he can't stand the thought that I might have escaped him and he has no idea where I am. That bothers him." she said with a smile.

"I guess it does." Elena said.

"How old are you elena?" Lexi asked.

"Eighteen. Almost nineteen." She said.

"Ugh, you poor girl. I'm so sorry you had to work there." Lexi said, shaking her head.

"It's ok, I'm… hopefully I'm done now." Elena shrugged.

"Speaking of, what made you leave?" Lexi asked.

She looked up at Stefan and Damon with wide eyes.

"Lexi, Martin killed someone." Stefan said carefully, looking hesitant.

Lexi's face immediately fell.

"Who?" she asked, looking at Elena.

"I…" Elena began.

"Please, Elena. I was there for four years. These girls were like my sisters. Which one of my sisters did that son of a bitch kill?" Lexi pleaded, taking her hands.

"I'm so sorry. It was Rose. I saw him kill her and… I came straight here." Elena whispered.

Tears filled Lexi's eyes and began to fall down her face.

"Oh God." She sobbed, standing up and throwing herself into Stefan's arms, who embraced her.

"He's like her big brother." Tyler said to Elena's questioning stare.

"Oh." She said, nodding at the answer to her unspoken question.

Lexi turned to Elena and for a moment, she was afraid that the other girl was going to yell at her or hit her for not stopping Frederick.

"I'm so sorry you had to see that." she said, pulling Elena up and embracing her tightly.

"I… I am too." Elena mumbled as they sat down.

"Why did he do it?" Lexi asked.

Elena looked up at Damon and he nodded. She relayed everything she knew from Rose telling them that she was engaged to Frederick freaking out over it and shooting her right on the floor of the strip club.

"Alaric has always been a good guy. You know he's going to school. That's why he's working at the club. He's trying to be a teacher, I think." Lexi said sadly.

"He's been amazing… he's done so much for me." Elena agreed.

Lexi narrowed her eyes at her and Elena wondered if she might have sensed that Elena was leaving something out. But she had no urge to tell them what Frederick did to her the day before at the party. That was something that she wanted to keep to herself. It was still painful for her to think of much less say out loud.

"Elena, we have something to ask you. We, like I said, don't have enough on Frederick Martin to do anything right now. We know that he's tied to a bunch of crimes but we don't have the evidence. We need something." Damon said.

"What are you saying?" she asked.

"We need someone on the inside." Stefan said plainly.

"What?" Both her and Lexi said, astonished at the suggestion.

"We need to have someone in there with an earpiece. We need to be able to hear what goes on behind closed doors. You told us earlier that Frederick didn't see and he doesn't know you witnessed this crime. Do you think that you could go back in? Do you think that you could be sort of a spy for us? It won't be for an extended period of time. Maybe for a month." Damon said.

Elena felt her heart pounding. Could she do that? Could she act like she knew nothing for an entire month? Could she act like everything was all right and that she didn't see Frederick kill one of her friends. Rose. Rose died because she wanted to leave to marry Trevor. She died for no reason at all. She deserved for her killer to be brought to justice. The girls who were trafficked because of Frederick deserved for him to be taken down. It didn't matter that Elena was scared. It didn't matter that she was putting her own life in danger. If she decided to walk away and ignore all that Frederick did, how would that make her any better than him? It wouldn't. She had no choice.

"I'll do it." she agreed.

Stefan and Damon smiled, both of them looking relieved. Liz and Tyler even looked a little happy. It was then that Elena realized how much they needed this, how much they needed her to do this.

"If you're going to do this, you need to bring him into the equation." Liz said knowingly.

"Are you serious?" Damon asked in a whiny voice.

"He was brought to New York for this very reason. He's good at this stuff." Tyler said.

"So am I. I don't need a babysitter." Damon mumbled.

"You saw his track record in LA. He was good. Like really good. We need him on this, Damon. He won't be your babysitter, he'll be your helper." Stefan said.

"Why are you in on this? You were just as pissed as I was that he was coming." Damon said, glaring at Stefan.

"Yeah, but that was until the boss stopped me in the hall and told me that he heard there was another witness for the Martin case. Jonas wants him on it." Stefan said.

"Who are you talking about?" Both Elena and Lexi asked at the same time.

"A new detective from LA. He worked in homicide mainly but he also dabbled in drugs, prostitution, trafficking, and everything else from here to the sun." Liz said.

"He moved here to be closer to his family and the department practically offered him the entire building to get him to work here." Tyler said.

"Why don't you want him to work with you?" Elena asked Damon.

"Because he's like a dog pissing on his territory." Lexi said, laughing at Damon's disgruntled expression.

"I heard he got here yesterday." Liz said.

"Then he won't want to work quite yet, he'll want to rest." Damon said, smiling.

"He's already at the station. Jonas is introducing him to all the department heads." Andie threw in.

"Shit." Damon cursed, dropping onto the couch and glaring at the wall.

"Elena we should get you home." Liz said, seeing the exhaustion in Elena's face.

"No, I'm fine. I can keep going over stuff with you." She said.

"We got everything you need for now. Just meet us here two hours before you have to go to work. Go home, sleep, and we'll take care of everything." Stefan said.

"I'll get a town car to drop you at home." Tyler said.

"No! It's right across the street from the strip club. That would look mysterious. I'll take a cab." Elena shrugged.

"Fine, but we'll have an officer follow you. They always go to 33rd and that area. It won't look suspicious." Liz said.

"Good luck, Elena. I'll be here later for you. You aren't going through this alone." Lexi assured her.

"Thank you." Elena said before she was ushered out of the room.

* * *

For the first time since moving to New York, Elena actually got good sleep. Unfortunately, it all ended too soon as she had to wake up at noon and get ready to go to the police station. Bonnie was in the kitchen making a sandwich when she stumbled in.

"Where were you all night, party girl?" Bonnie asked, smiling at her.

"Oh you know, hitting the bars. All that." Elena waved off.

"Do you have a fake ID I don't know about?" she asked, handing her a cup of coffee.

"Nope, just boobs and the ability to flirt my way into a man's wallet." She said, hoping that she sounded convincing.

"It is amazing how that works, isn't it?" Bonnie asked, smiling at her.

"Listen, I have to go do some shopping before work. I won't be late but I'll see you there, ok?" she asked.

"Don't be late." Bonnie warned her before she went into the bathroom to take a shower.

When she got out, she went to her closet and began searching through her clothes. When she first started working, she didn't have much room in her closet for the new clothes so Caroline, against Elena's will, forced her to take all of her old clothes to Goodwill. Now all she had were slutty clothes and she really didn't want to wear that to the police station. But she didn't really have much of a choice. She threw on a pair of skinny jeans, an orange one-shoulder top that had a loose sleeve that went to her elbow, and a pair of black heels. It was the least slutty outfit she could think of wearing.

Then she blow-dried and curled her hair and did her make up before rushing out and grabbing a cab. As they drove to the police station, she noticed a black town car following the cab. Looks like they were going to be a normal presence around her. When she walked into the police station, she walked to the desk and Denise looked up.

"Hello." She said, looking confused at Elena.

"I'm Elena Gilbert. I was in here this morning. Frederick Martin?" she asked, feeling frustrated at the clueless receptionist.

"Oh! You look so much different! You can go ahead and go back to where you were. The detectives are waiting for you." She said, gesturing to the hallway that led to homicide.

"Thank you." She said before walking down the hall and through the door.

Damon and Stefan were standing around one of the many desks out in the open talking to one of the police officers. They both had serious looks. When the door slammed closed, they looked up to see her standing there.

"Elena! Hey!" Damon said, walking towards her and smiling.

"Hi. What's going on?" she asked.

"Oh nothing. Just… nothing." He said, trying to usher her back to the room that they were in before.

"Not nothing. What aren't you telling me, Damon? I'm not stupid." She said.

He sighed and looked at Stefan, who nodded.

"Shortly after you left we were called to a crime scene. A body was found in Bryant Park not so cleverly hidden. Parks are sort of a go-to dumping ground for Frederick and his men." Damon said.

"It was Rose." She guessed.

"Yeah…" he answered, looking sad.

Elena took a deep breath.

"It's ok. I already knew… I knew that she was dead. This just makes it seem so much more, final. Damn why is everything so messed up?" she sighed, rubbing her temples.

"I'm sorry, Elena." He said.

She nodded and finally allowed him to steer her away. The next hour was full of information. They gave her an earpiece and tested it out. It would allow them to talk to her but they advised her not to talk back even though they would have been able to hear her. The main reason she was wearing it was so that they could hear anything anyone else said, mainly Frederick. Lexi wished her good luck as she left and she thanked her with a smile and a hug.

She took a cab back to the strip club with the black town car following once again. Damon said that him and Stefan would be close to the strip club just in case. She didn't want to know the situation that they were ready for so she didn't ask. As she walked into the strip club, Alaric looked up from his desk and looked panicked.

"What's wrong?" she asked, looking at him.

"Elena you shouldn't be here. You have to leave." Alaric said.

"Why? I have to come to work, Ric." She shrugged, turning to walk away.

"You don't understand, Frederick…" he was cut off by someone walking down the stairs.

Elena quickly brushed her hair out of the way and Alaric caught sight of the thing in her ear before she brushed it back. Frederick appeared in the doorway and her heart leapt.

"Why ever are you keeping Elena detained down here, Alaric? She has work to do." Frederick said, holding out his hand to Elena.

She stared at it for a moment before smiling at him.

"Thank you." She said, taking it as he helped her up the stairs.

It wasn't an unusual thing for Frederick to do this. After Elena's first stumble down the stairs on her heels, someone always walked with her. Sometimes it was Bonnie and Caroline, sometimes Anna, sometimes Alaric, and sometimes Frederick.

"How did you sleep last night?" he asked.

"Great. You?" Elena asked, trying to seem casual and hoping that she was doing well.

"You're doing great, Elena." A voice said in her ear.

It made her jump a little to hear Damon's voice out of nowhere.

"You ok?" Frederick asked.

"I need a drink." She sighed.

He laughed and led her over to the bar.

"You're underage Elena." Damon reminded her.

She made a point to flip him off in her mind until she remembered that he couldn't see it.

"Harper! Vanilla vodka and pineapple for my girl!" Frederick said, slamming his hand on the counter.

"Right away, boss." Harper said.

Alaric appeared at the top of the stairs and looked just as panicked. At that moment, a crackling sounded in her ear.

"What are you doing here?" Damon sighed.

A muffled voice in the background made her focus.

"Elena?" Harper asked, handing her the drink.

"I said that I want an earpiece. This is what I do, Salvatore." A new voice suddenly took over in her ear.

She almost dropped her drink when she heard it. It was very possibly the sexiest voice she'd ever heard. She hadn't had the pleasure of hearing a whole lot of British accents outside of movies. She thought that they were sexy enough in those but hearing one in real life was even better.

"Earth to Elena. We have to go get dressed." Caroline, showing up beside her.

"Oh, yeah. Sorry. Sorry Frederick. I'm spacing out a lot today. I didn't get any shopping done cause I was daydreaming the whole time." Elena said, standing up and downing her drink in three gulps.

"Daydreaming about what?" Caroline asked, linking her elbow through Elena's.

"Oh you know, a sexy dream." Elena said, winking at her before they walked away.

"A sexy dream about whom, might I ask?" the voice belonging to a person that she didn't know said on her earpiece.

"About who?" Caroline asked as if she knew what the man was saying and was teaming up with him against her.

"A faceless guy. Yeah it sucked. But man he was hot." Elena shrugged as they walked into the dressing room.

"How was shopping?" Bonnie asked when she saw her.

"Oh fine. I kept daydreaming so I didn't get much done." She said, using the same excuse as to why she had no bags with her.

"She had a sexy dream about a hot guy." Caroline said before skipping off to change.

"Oh I love sexy dreams about hot guys. You should share with me." Bonnie said as she primped her hair.

"Nope. My sexy dream guy is all mine." Elena said.

"I'll be your sexy dream guy." Damon's voice showed up.

"Shut it." she accidentally said out loud.

"Shut what?" Bonnie asked, looking confused.

Elena's eyes widened and she looked down at Bonnie's make up counter for help.

"Your lipstick." She said, pointing at the lipstick that had no top on it.

"If you don't put the top on it dries out. You should know this Bennett." She said, shaking her head as she went to change into her uniform.

"Elena, I know you don't want to but you have to be around Frederick if we're supposed to hear anything. As soon as you finish go hang out with him at the bar. Be smooth. We can't have him suspecting you or everything will be over." Stefan said.

"Let the girl do what she wants, Salvatore. We're having her in there for a month. She has to ease into it to feel comfortable." The British accent guy said.

"As much as I hate to admit it, Stef, and you know I do, he's right. We can't rush Elena or she'll end up making a mistake and getting hurt or worse. Let her be." Damon said.

"Thank you." She whispered, feeling that the men in her ear were not at all helpful.

"I'll go to the bar but I'm having another drink." She hissed before she finished dressing and walked out of the room.

When she got to the bar, she sat beside Frederick again.

"Don't you look dazzling?" he asked, taking in her beaded bra and short skirt and, of course, fishnet tights.

"Thank you, Frederick." She said with an easy smile, feeling herself getting more comfortable with the situation.

"Hey Alaric. About those tapes that I got from you this morning, you know the security tapes from the last few days…" Frederick trailed off.

"Fuck!" a voice shouted in Elena's ear, making her wince.

She didn't know why Damon suddenly sounded so terrified but she heard all of the men arguing all of the sudden. Their voices jumbled together and she had no idea what was happening.

"I saw something interesting on them. Do you care to tell me what that was, Elena?" Frederick asked.

It suddenly dawned on her exactly what he was talking about but she decided to play stupid. If it stalled him for a moment, that might be enough time for her to run. It was too late, Frederick already knew about her seeing him kill Rose.

"What are you talking about?" she asked, confused.

He leaned in towards her and stroked her cheek. She couldn't help but flinch away, flashing back to the night of the party and when he tried to rape her. She stood up and stumbled backwards. Screw the play stupid act. Get out. That's what her mind told her to do.

"I'm talking about the night of the party. You know when you were bent over my desk. God you looked so sexy in that short little dress. Too bad you struggled so much. You and I could have had a beautiful night, Elena. Instead you ruined it with your stupidity you stupid bitch. I'm also talking about last night. I know you saw, Elena. Why are you playing stupid with me?" Frederick demanded, his hand flashing to his waist.

"I didn't see anything. I don't know what you're talking about." She stammered, backing away quickly towards the door.

"I'm talking about when you saw me kill that whore, Rose. You saw me kill her just like I'm about to kill you." He said, pulling out his gun.

"No!" Alaric shouted.

Frederick turned to glare at him and Elena took the chance and turned to run down the stairs. True to her clumsy nature, she slipped on a step and went tumbling down the stairs, screaming and crying out. When she finally slammed into the floor at the bottom, she felt too weak and pained to stand up. Luckily, at that moment, the front door slammed open as footsteps thundered down the stairs.

"Come on." a voice grunted, lifting her up to her feet and pulling her out.

As the door slammed closed, she heard the gun fire and hit the metal door with a thud. People around them turned to look with alarmed expressions. Whoever pulled her out helped her hobble to a van that had some sort of plumbing company printed on the side.

"What is this?" she asked.

The doors slammed open to reveal Stefan and Damon sitting in there with a bunch of expensive looking equipment.

"Get in!" Damon shouted.

Elena froze for a moment when she heard the club door slam open. Two strong arms wrapped around her and yanked her into the van before Frederick could catch sight of her. The doors slammed shut and they immediately began driving away. Elena was lying on the ground of the van with her knees curled up to her chest. She almost just died. Frederick was going to kill her if she hadn't run. As she thought about it, she became aware of the aching pain in her shoulder and her head. Her leg was also throbbing.

"Are you all right?" a voice asked.

It was the same voice she heard on the earpiece. The mysterious British accent. She finally convinced her body to move and turned over to sit up. When she looked up her eyes met the most vivid, beautiful blue eyes she'd ever seen.

"I'm hurt." Was all she could say to this beautiful man.

His eyes immediately dropped and she watched with awe as he searched her body for injuries.

"You're bleeding." He said, grabbing a towel from the corner and pressing it to her knee.

"I can hold it." she finally said, reaching for the towel. He let it go and then disappeared behind her.

"Elena, I'm so sorry. This wouldn't have happened if we didn't convince you to go in. Martin is smarter than we gave him credit for." Damon said.

She nodded without looking at him.

"It's not just you. I agreed to do it. I wanted to help and I still will, if you let me. I obviously can't be your spy anymore but I think I can still help." Elena said, picking the towel up and grimacing at the gash in her knee.

She heard shuffling behind her and the man appeared in front of her again.

"You took a nasty fall." He said, opening a first aid kit and pulling out alcohol and gauze.

"I was running." She said simply, yet again unable to say more than a few words to him.

"I know. That was very smart of you. You've got good instincts. In another life, you might have made a good cop." He said.

"I'm still young yet. You don't think that can still happen?" Elena asked, suddenly getting her wits about her and smiling slightly.

"I think anything can happen." He said, pushing the towel out of the way. "This is going to hurt." He warned her.

"I know." She nodded, steeling herself for the stinging pain.

She bit her lip as the alcohol invaded the wound. Immediately after he removed it, he placed a bandage over the gash.

"I don't think you'll need stitches but it's not going to feel good. We can get you some pain medication when we get to the station. Do you think you have any broken bones?" he asked, looking her over again.

"No, just a bruised ego. I hate heels." she said, working on slipping them off now that he was done doctoring her up.

"You're going to have a bunch of bruised other things as well." he informed her, looking at the red marks that were visible on her body.

It wasn't that hard to see where she collided most with the stairs as she still had her skimpy waitress outfit on. She felt uncomfortable all of the sudden and wrapped her arms around her torso to try and hide something. The man noticed her discomfort and immediately took off his suit jacket.

"You don't have to do that." she argued as he placed it around her shoulders.

"Yes I do. I saved your life and now I'm saving your dignity. I know you're uncomfortable in that clothing." He said.

"You're the one who grabbed me?" she asked, smiling at him.

"I am. I'm glad I did too. That bullet was two seconds away from hitting you." He said.

"Thank you… um…" she trailed off, realizing that she didn't know his name.

"I'm Detective Niklaus Mikaelson. But you, lovely, can call me Klaus." he said.

She grinned at him.

"Thank you, Klaus. I'm Elena Gilbert. You can call me Elena." She said, reaching out her hand to shake his.

As soon as their skin touched, she felt sudden warmth in her body. It wasn't anything sexual or anything like that. She felt safe, as if now that she knew him and he was near her, nothing was going to happen to her. And that was the best thing she could ever imagine feeling at that moment.

**Author's Note: I know that it didn't have much Klaus in it but I didn't introduce him and he's already become Elena's savior so that's counts for something. I hope you liked it! Review please! Please please please!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I do not own TVD**

Elena felt strange walking into the police station with her heels in one hand, her other hand clutching the jacket around her and her skimpy uniform underneath and tears threatening to overtake her. During the drive she had time to process everything and her spirits fell more and more. She'd ruined it. She ruined everything. They could have had a good source inside the club if Frederick hadn't seen those tapes. Her body started trembling as she thought of how quickly her life had changed. When they got to the lobby, Elena noticed that Damon and Stefan walked on either side of her while Klaus walked in front and a police officer walked in back. It was as if they were her bodyguards. It didn't make her feel any better. They were probably angry with her for ruining their chances at having someone on the inside.

They also knew about what Frederick did to her after the party. That was the worst part of it. Up until now they'd been treating Elena like a normal person. But from what Frederick said, they could easily think that she was a whore now. She didn't know why she cared so much what they thought. But the idea of any of them thinking that she was a slut brought tears to her eyes. By the time that they got to the homicide office, the salty drops were steadily streaming down her face. She looked around for an escape, any escape. When her eyes fell on the bathroom, she broke through the four men surrounding her and started walking for it. The closer she got, the faster she went.

When she was about ten feet away, she broke into a run and slammed through the door. She didn't even make it to a stall before she collapsed with the force of her wracking sobs. She felt the jacket slip off of her shoulders but she didn't care. Somewhere in the back of her mind she knew that she looked ridiculous. She was basically in stripper clothing, on her knees with her elbows on the ground and rocking back and forth as she cried. She didn't know when her sobs turned into screams but before she knew it, arms were wrapped around her and cradling her as she wailed and screamed. When she turned her head and buried her face in a curtain of long blonde hair she knew that it was Lexi who was holding her.

"Shh. It's ok. I'm here sweetie. It's ok." She murmured, stroking Elena's hair.

"I… I…" she stammered, unable to put together a rational thought much less a sentence. "Why did this happen to me?" she finally choked out, her chest still heaving with sobs.

"I don't know. Bad stuff happens to good people all the time and nobody knows why." Lexi whispered.

"I want to go home. I want to be back in my clothes in my town in my house. I want to see my mom and my dad even though I still hate them for kicking me out. I want to see my friends." she cried.

"I know. I know the feeling." The other girl said, still rocking Elena back and forth.

"But I can't. I can't go anywhere. If they even still want me after I ruined everything, I can't just walk away. I have to stay and help. For Rose and for all the other girls that Frederick has hurt and will hurt if he remains free. I have to stay." She said, breathing deeply as she tried to stop crying.

But mentioning Rose's name brought up the image of her empty, lifeless eyes and it sent her into another round of hysterics.

"Elena, I know you're scared and I know you want to be out of this situation more than anything. I promise that if you get off this dirty floor and into some comfortable clothes and maybe let me wash your face, you'll feel better. Will you do that for me? Will you let me help you?" Lexi asked.

Elena nodded through her tears.

"I can't walk. I feel so weak and tired." she mumbled, wiping furiously at her tears.

"I know. I'll go get someone to help." Lexi said, standing up slowly.

She caught the blonde's hand before she walked away.

"Are they mad at me for ruining everything?" she whimpered, afraid of the answer.

Lexi sighed and knelt down.

"Of course they're not, sweetie. Because you didn't ruin anything. It's not your fault that Frederick did what he did. None of it is your fault. You are the victim, Elena." Elena had a feeling that Lexi wasn't just talking about Rose's death and Frederick trying to kill her.

Either Lexi already had a suspicion of what Frederick tried to do to her or they told her about what he said. She was afraid of both situations. She let her arm go limp as Lexi stood up again and she curled up, her knees drawn to her chest and her head lying on them with her arms wrapped around her shins. She heard the door open and close and someone sighed. She didn't want to look up to see who it was but when he bent down to lift her up, she recognized the immediate feeling of warmth. Her arm shot out and she grabbed his jacket off of the floor before he lifted her into his arms. She was cradled bridal style in his arms.

"You got her?" she heard Damon's voice ask.

"She weighs no more than 110 pounds, Salvatore. I've got her." hearing his voice made her relax a little more and she turned her face to bury it in his dress shirt.

"I'm sorry if I got your jacket dirty." She mumbled, clutching it to her chest.

She heard his chest rumble and she looked up to see him chuckling.

"I'm not worried about my jacket, lovely." He assured her, looking down at her and smiling.

She bit her lip and closed her eyes again. She didn't know what he meant by that but, just for a moment, she pretended that he meant that he was worried about her and for some reason, that made her feel a thousand times better. They arrived back in the comfortable room and Klaus set her down on one of the couches. She panicked for a moment as he stood up. It must have shown in her eyes because he smiled at her and sat down right next to her.

"Elena I know that you probably aren't up to much, right now. But…" Liz began as she walked in the door.

"Did I ruin it? The investigation into Frederick. I know you were counting on having someone on the inside." she interrupted her.

"Of course you didn't." Damon scoffed from the corner.

"I told you." Lexi said with a smile.

"But I was found out." she said, confused.

"Elena don't you think we had a backup plan. We always have one. We've had someone on the inside in that club for five years. You were an additional set of eyes and ears that would have been helpful but not exactly necessary. How do you think we have all this information on Martin?" Stefan asked.

"But if you've had someone on the inside for that long how have you not caught him yet?" she asked.

"The trafficking. We know he is involved but we still have zero evidence. He's very careful but we think he's getting more careless than before. If we can gather evidence that he's involved with trafficking then we've got the trifecta. Murder, drugs, trafficking." Damon explained.

"Oh." She murmured.

"You can still help us, Elena. Lexi still helps us and she's not on the inside. And plus, we all kinda like you." Tyler shrugged.

"What I was saying before, Elena. I know that you've been through a lot today but there's someone here to see you." Liz said, smiling at her.

"Who would be here to see me?" she asked, looking around at everyone.

"Elena when we found out your name, it was familiar. We have a family who makes very large, important donations to the NYPD. The man is a very prominent doctor in the city. His name is Grayson Gilbert?" Stefan asked.

Elena gasped. Could they have found her uncle and aunt?

"We called him and asked him if he had anyone related to him with the name Elena." Liz explained.

"He's my uncle." She said, finally smiling.

"Yeah, he told us that he hadn't seen you since you were a child. We told him that you could really use a friendly face. That you could really use some family around you right now." Stefan said.

Her smile suddenly dropped when she looked down at her clothing.

"I can't meet with them right now. Look at me. I'm a mess. I don't want my family to see me looking like… well a whore." She said sadly, curling up again.

"Well I think you look outright sexy, but it's a good thing that I'm here to make you look presentable." Lexi said, standing up and holding out a large duffle bag.

"They're talking to the head of our department right now. You have to go change and freshen up." Damon said.

Elena looked around hesitatingly and her eyes finally landed on Klaus.

"They are very happy to see you." he said encouragingly.

"Ok." She nodded to Lexi, standing up and following her to the bathroom.

First Lexi helped her out of the clothes and into a new set of clothes. It was a white sleeveless dress that went down a little below mid-thigh with a thin pink belt and blue ¾ sleeve cardigan over it. She pulled Elena's hair back into a ponytail with a few strands hanging down in her face. Then she turned her around and wiped her face down with a make-up wipe to remove all of the streaked mascara and thick powder.

"I'm not going to put any make up on you because you look beautiful. Your skin is very pretty." Lexi complimented her before handing her a pair of blue heels that matched the cardigan perfectly.

After Elena put them on, Lexi dragged her over to the full-length mirror to show her what she looked like.

"You are not a whore, Elena. Nothing Frederick did to you can ever make that true." Lexi whispered before kissing her cheek.

She smiled at her reflection. For the first time since moving to New York she felt a little like herself. This wasn't how she dressed in Mystic Falls by any means. But it made her extremely happy to wear it. It made her look like she was nineteen-years-old as opposed to the make up and outfits that Frederick made her wear that aged her at least five years. She felt fresh and clean.

"Thank you, Lexi." She whispered, feeling tears gathering in her eyes.

"Oh I didn't mean to make you upset." Lexi said, handing her a tissue.

"I'm not upset. I'm happy. This makes me happy. I look normal. Thank you." she said with a smile.

"I even got you something else." Lexi said with a grin.

She bent over the duffle bag and pulled out a big silver and black purse.

"It has a wallet, lotion, a make up bag with fantastic make up in it. Did you know that the police department can issue its witness' phones? Well they do. iPhones, nonetheless. They are private numbers that can only be reached by those who have been given the exact number and code to reach them. They can't be tracked by anyone other than the police department. There's one in there for you and I put all of my music on it this morning so that you'll have something to listen to if you need it."

"Wow." Elena breathed, looking in the bag with awe. "This is amazing."

"See? Being in this world isn't all that bad. And, I mean, you got to be carried by a really hot Brit." She shrugged.

Elena grinned at her.

"He is pretty hot, isn't he?" she asked, giggling a little.

"Yeah!" Lexi scoffed before she pulled Elena out of the bathroom.

Damon and Klaus were waiting near the bathroom. Elena flushed when she thought that Klaus might have heard them talking. They both turned and smiled when they saw her.

"You are a genius, Lexi." Damon said, kissing the other girl's cheek as she walked by.

"No, I simply know how to dress people. Elena was just a good Barbie doll for me." Lexi joked.

"Are you ready?" Klaus asked, gesturing to a conference room where Elena could see people gathered around.

She sighed and looked at him, shaking her head.

"Yes you are." He nodded, putting his hand on her lower back and steering her towards the conference room.

The door opened and she saw Stefan standing with three people that she didn't know, but two people that she sort of recognized from a few vague blurry memories. They turned and her aunt and uncle's eyes widened. She suddenly felt a little self-conscious. The woman was beautiful. Her long brown hair was curled slightly at the ends and she was in a pair of black business pants, a cream short-sleeved sweater with a black wide belt at her waist and a pair of black patent pumps.

The man was in a business suit and his dark hair was streaked with grey. He looked nothing like her father except for his eyes. They were kind, just like John's. Her eyes were crinkled at the corners that showed years of smiling. It gave her hope that he was nice. The one man that she didn't know was speaking in low tones with Stefan while eyeing her up and down. It wasn't in a critical way. It was more like he was measuring her up, trying to figure her out.

She tore her eyes away from him and looked at her aunt and uncle again.

"Hi." She said, her voice a little hoarse from crying.

"Hello, Elena. I'm Miranda." Her aunt said, stepping forward with a smile.

"I know. I mean, I remember you a little." She said, her hands twisting together.

"Then you know I'm Grayson." Her uncle said, smiling as well.

"Uncle Gray." She said immediately, regretting it immediately after as she blushed.

Miranda and Grayson both laughed.

"That is what you him. And I was Aunt Mira." Miranda said.

Elena nodded and felt a little unsure. What was she supposed to do now? She wasn't sure how to be around them. She felt her emotions spiking again and her lip began trembling. No, she couldn't cry again. Not in front of her aunt and uncle. It would be embarrassing. But apparently her body did not agree with her. One lonely tear slid down her face and the smiles disappeared from their faces.

"I'm sorry." She whispered, shaking her head and stepping back.

"Oh honey, you have nothing to be sorry for." Miranda said, stepping forward and gathering Elena in a motherly embrace.

Elena all of the sudden felt like she was at home with family. It wasn't the same feeling as with her parents. It was comforting and she felt a hundred times better. She felt another set of arms wrap around her and turned her head to see Grayson. She relaxed and inhaled deeply, feeling her need to cry disappear. She smiled and wrapped one arm around both of them.

"Thank you." she whispered.

The door opened and Elena turned to see a young man, younger than her, walk in. His dark hair was a short and a little messy. He looked exactly like Grayson. When he looked up, he stopped short at the scene in front of him. Elena was easily able to guess who he was but wasn't sure exactly what to do now. She was caught embracing his parents and he probably had no idea who she was. Did he even know she existed? Grayson and Miranda let go of her but didn't step away, turning to look at the new person in the room.

"Jeremy, hey. This is…" Miranda began.

"Elena." He said instantly and she was surprised.

"Yeah, this is your cousin, Elena." Grayson said.

He suddenly broke into a smile and nodded.

"She looks different from that picture in your study." He said to his father.

"Well she's four in the picture. That was almost fifteen years ago." Miranda laughed.

"Gentlemen, Lexi, let us leave Elena alone to talk with her family for a while." Klaus suggested.

"Of course." Lexi said, ushering Damon and Stefan out with Klaus following.

"Before I go, I wanted to introduce myself. I'm Jonas Martin. No relation to the man we're pursuing, of course. I'm the head of the NYPD homicide department." He said.

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Martin. I'm Elena, of course." She said, shaking his hand.

After he left they sat at the table in the room and immediately began talking. It was easier than Elena thought. They were able to ease into the conversation without them asking why Elena was there. She was grateful that no one had told them yet. She wasn't sure it was something she wanted them to know. But she was well aware that they would want an explanation.

"How did you end up in New York?" Grayson asked.

"I came here after I graduated. The day after, in fact." She still couldn't keep the bitterness towards her parents out of her voice.

"Was this a willing venture into the big city?" Miranda asked, sensing Elena's anger.

"I actually came to try to find you. I'm sure that you're aware of my parents' problems. After a particularly late night they came to the conclusion that I did not belong in their house anymore and immediately followed up on that conclusion by practically shoving me out the door. I didn't want to be a burden on my friends in Mystic Falls so I came here to find you. I was just going to try to ask for a place to stay for a few months until I could get on my feet financially and move out on my own." She explained.

Grayson looked sad and a little angry. Miranda just looked devastated and Jeremy looked confused and sympathetic.

"I knew we should have taken her out of that home as soon as she was born. Neither of them was ready for a daughter." Grayson said, running a hand through his hair.

"Imagine if they'd had two." Miranda said before clapping a hand over her mouth and looking horrified.

"I'm so sorry, Elena." She whispered.

"It's ok. I think the same thing sometimes. I think that maybe my sister's death was a blessing. I wouldn't wish the past eighteen years on anyone. But at the same time, I can't help but feel lucky. I could have been in much worse situations. My parents never laid a hand on me or abused me at all. Up until the day they kicked me out they actually treated me pretty good. I don't know if that's because they love me or if it was guilt for not being around very much." Elena said, shaking her head and rubbing her temples.

"Elena, I don't know if it's personal, but how did you end up in here?" Grayson asked.

Miranda and Jeremy both leaned forward a little bit, looking interested. Elena felt her mouth go dry and she just couldn't form the words to explain.

"I… I…" she stammered before clearing her throat and biting her lip.

"I witnessed something at the place where I work. Something bad and I came to the police to tell them. I'm helping them." She said as vaguely as she could.

"We heard someone whisper something about Frederick Martin. Are you involved with him?" Miranda asked, sounding worried.

Elena was pretty sure that she looked like a deer in the headlights at that moment. She turned and looked out of the clear glass. Her eyes met Lexi's, who was standing with Damon, Stefan, Klaus, and Tyler. The detectives were all involved in a deep discussion with determined faces. Lexi nudged Klaus, who was closest to her, and nodded at Elena. He turned and at the look on her face, he immediately started towards the room.

"I'm sorry. I just… I can't talk about it." she said, standing up and stumbling backwards clumsily.

"Elena whatever it is we'll help you. You're family. We will help you." Grayson said.

She looked at him with wide eyes. She'd known family. And they'd never done much to help her. The sound of the door opening made her turn. Klaus strode in followed by Lexi and the rest of the detectives. Elena turned back around and bit her lip.

"I want you to know, knowing that it might make you disgusted with me or whatever. But I want you to know. I just can't tell you. I've had to repeat it so many times that it's starting to sound casual when I say it. I don't want that. I need to still be horrified and terrified about it." she explained.

Then she turned to the rest of them.

"I'll tell them, Elena." Stefan said, stepping forward.

She nodded and looked back.

"I'm sorry… I just can't be in here when they tell you. If you still want to be my family after you hear this, I'm more than happy to get to know you." she said before she backed up into the group and felt Lexi's arm entangle with hers.

"Let's go get some coffee." She whispered before pulling her out of the room.

Elena and Lexi were the only ones in the comfortable room so she assumed that all of the detectives were in there talking to her aunt and uncle. She didn't speak as she sipped at a cup of coffee. When the door opened thirty minutes later, Elena sat straight up and stared at the people entering with wide eyes. When Grayson and Miranda stepped in, they immediately went to the couch she was sitting on and embraced her tightly.

"I am so sorry for what you've been through, Elena. I wish that we could have been there for you." Miranda murmured.

She felt relieved and immediately relaxed in their arms. When she looked up the detectives were sitting down along with the head of the department.

"We need to talk about something else. Elena, at this point, has no place to stay. She was living in an apartment provided by Martin so we cannot let her go back there, ever." Stefan said.

"She can stay with us." Grayson offered.

"As good as that sounds for your family, it's not good for Elena. When Lexi came to us we all came to the agreement that, because we still needed her here and not in witness protection, she was going to go into our own form of witness protection. That's why she's been staying with Stefan for the past six months. We need to do that same thing with Elena." Damon suggested.

"Can't you just have a police detail outside of our home?" Miranda asked.

"We can't spare the men when they need to be out looking for other criminals. We need to make sure that Elena is safe 100% of the time because I guarantee that Frederick is not just going to give up on finding her. So there needs to be a cop within fifty feet of her all the time. The best way to do that is to have her live with them. After a heated discussion in which several of my detectives volunteered, I decided that Detective Mikaelson is the best equipped to do so." Jonas explained.

Elena watched all of this with wide eyes.

"So I'm just going to live with a man that I haven't even known for a day and you didn't even ask me?" she demanded, feeling a bit put off.

Lexi laughed. "I felt the exact same way, Elena. But I promise you that staying with them is kind of fun. They're not as uptight as they seem once they take the badge off." she said, patting Stefan's head.

Elena bit her lip and looked at Klaus who looked very proud of himself.

"Is it absolutely necessary?" she whined.

"Yes." Five different voices in the room said.

"You'll be safe, Elena. That's all that matters." Grayson said decidedly.

"Will I be able to see them?" she asked, gesturing to her aunt and uncle.

"Of course. You aren't on lockdown. You'll still be able to go freely about the city as long as you have a police escort." Damon said.

"Klaus." she murmured.

"Lexi is right, lovely. I can be very fun." Klaus drawled, grinning at her.

She smiled and shook her head.

"Fine, I'm not going to fight this. I chose to help you." she nodded.

"Hmm, not quite the fight I was anticipating." Damon shrugged.

"I can fight a bit more if you want. Kicking and screaming included. I can even throw in a little crying." Elena offered.

"No thanks." All of the men said at once.

"Well, Elena, I suppose that I should take you to my current place of residence and show you around. I imagine you'll be able to get comfortable quickly." Klaus said, winking and making her giggle.

"Detective Mikaelson, you know the rules." Jonas warned him.

"I know how to treat a witness, yes." He said, rolling his eyes.

"I'm sure he'll be a perfect gentleman, Mr. Martin." Elena said, crossing the room to stand by Klaus.

Everyone else looked doubtful but didn't argue with her statement. After an entire day full of giving the detectives every single little piece of information about Frederick she could think of, it was time to go to her new home. Miranda and Grayson left soon after it was decided that she would stay with Klaus. Lexi left a little after that with a devious expression on her face as she looked at Elena. When she pulled Klaus aside and whispered eagerly with him, Elena got even more suspicious. But all of that was forgotten when they took her back into the room where she met her aunt and uncle.

It almost felt like she was under investigation as she was grilled for information. It was definitely the most tiring thing she'd done so far. For some reason, what happened after that party wasn't mentioned once even though she was sure that they'd heard Frederick talk about it. She didn't argue though, when they said that they were done for the day and they would pick up tomorrow morning. Klaus practically had to drag her out of the station and to a black town car.

"I can't wait until my own car gets here. My little brother is driving it up from California along with the rest of my things." Klaus mumbled, looking uncomfortable.

"I have to admit, when I heard you were from California, I imagined a shaggy blonde haired surfer with a serious tan and a skateboard." Elena giggled, feeling her exhaustion make her silly.

"Oh really?" he said, raising his eyebrow at her.

"Well I certainly didn't expect you." she shrugged.

"Well I'm what you got, lovely." He sighed.

She looked over at him and noticed that he looked just as exhausted as she did. She laid her head back and closed her eyes. A few minutes later, Klaus said something and the car jerked to a stop.

"Elena, you need to come with me." he said, taking her hand and pulling her out of the car.

"Why?" she whimpered.

That was when she noticed the blue and red flashing lights. They were everywhere. She looked around to see that they were in a park. Yellow tape could be seen through a crowd of people. Klaus dragged her through and flashed his badge at a police officer.

"Keep a hold on her, she's a fragile package." He said to the officer before turning to her.

"You need to stay here." He said.

"Why?" she asked.

"Because you are under my protection and I need to make sure you're safe." He said gruffly before he ran off.

Elena looked around confused. It was chaos. Her eyes darted through the crowd and that's when she saw him. He looked almost smug, his eyes trained right on her.

"Oh no." she whispered.

Frederick was standing right there among the crowd with a smirk on his face. She whirled around and wrenched her arm out of the officer's grip before running through the police officers. She caught sight of Klaus standing by an ambulance talking to a police officer.

"… isn't a homicide. It's just an assault." The other officer said.

"Klaus!" she cried, stumbling to his side.

"He was in the crowd. Frederick was…" she trailed off when she saw the gurney being wheeled to the ambulance.

"Oh my God!" she screamed, launching forward and stopping by the gurney.

"Elena?" Klaus asked.

"Anna!" she cried, feeling the urge to throw up and faint at the same time.

Her face was covered in blood and so was the rest of her body that was visible. Her dress was in tatters and Elena knew by the blood and bruises on her thighs that she'd been raped. Frederick had been in the crowd. He wanted to witness this. It was like a flashing neon sign to Elena. He knew about her and he was not done with her.

**Author's Note: I hope you liked it! Review please!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I do not own TVD**

**Thanks to idontgiveadamnsoshutup16, Elena and Klaus, beverlie4055, slayerdiaries, delusionchaos, Alison, Heartnets, Lamiya, JessBecauseIAm, Catherina1996, xXxForeverBittenxXx, the killer tigeress, Tory Mikaelson, Legolas' Mione0233, CovertPersona, Peyton Hemmings, winxgirl1997, tvdxobsessed, and Meredith for reviewing the last chapter. **

**I'm so sorry it took so long to update!**

"Why? Why does this keep happening to me? Why does all this bad stuff keep happening to the people around me?" Elena mumbled, running her fingers through her tangled hair.

"Elena you should sit down. In fact, you should lie down. You have had a very long day." Lexi said, watching as she paced the small private waiting room.

"I can't, not until… I can't." she sighed, shaking her head as she continued to walk back and forth.

"Elena." Klaus said, standing up and turning her to face him.

"You need to calm down. The doctor already said that Anna is not in any immediate danger. They are just doing surgery to fix a punctured lung and some internal bleeding." He said, trying and failing to reassure her.

"That sounds really serious." She whispered.

"I know it does but you know what?" he backed away from her and began untucking his shirt.

"What are you doing?" she asked, her eyes widening.

He quickly unbuttoned it and yanked it off before pulling up his white t-shirt. She fell silent as her eyes were met with a very ripped, very hot torso. She stared at it for a moment before she looked at where his fingers were pointing to a scar on his ribs.

"I had surgery to fix a punctured lung here and to fix a ruptured spleen here. I was in a car accident at age fifteen. My injuries are identical to the ones that Anna has. She will be fine." He assured her.

She sighed and squeezed her eyes closed as he dropped his shirt and pulled back on the button down.

"Not identical. You weren't… she was… he raped her." she said, her eyes meeting with Lexi's when she opened them.

Klaus grew silent. He couldn't say anything to reassure her now. There was nothing to say.

"Anna was my age. She was actually a little younger than me. She came to work at the club the day she turned eighteen. I was protecting her from Frederick. I left and he… he destroyed her. He did it because of me. He knew that I cared about her." she whimpered, feeling devastated.

"This is not your fault, Elena. This was the work of a monster. You were another one of his victims. You are not to blame for what he did to Anna." Lexi said, standing up and putting her hands on Elena's upper arms.

"But Anna… and the others…" she stammered.

"He is trying to scare you, sweetie. He's trying to intimidate you. Don't let him do that. Be strong, Elena. Be strong for Rose and for Anna and for all of the other girls that he's tried to destroy. I knew Anna for a few days before I left. I remember her being a little firecracker. Just like you, Elena. She reminds me of you. And she will heal and she will be just as determined as you to bring that asshole down. So you don't give up, you keep fighting for everyone." The other girl said.

"What if I can't? I'm not that strong, Lexi." Elena said pleadingly, almost as if she was hoping for a dismissal, for permission to run away.

"I don't believe that for a second and neither should you. Look at how much you've gone through the past few days. You are a survivor, Elena. When Frederick threatened you, your first instinct was to survive. You ran away, which is what you should do. We can't physically fight Frederick which is why we have these guys protecting us." Lexi said, gesturing to Klaus and Stefan, who brought Lexi to the hospital.

Elena nodded, breathing slowly.

"I will try, I will try to stay strong." She said clearly.

"You bet your ass you will." Lexi said with a grin.

Elena smiled back at her for a moment before the door opened. Stefan and Klaus were instantly standing in front of her and Lexi.

"It's the doctor." She said, pushing through them and stumbling over to him.

"She's out of surgery. Everything went great. She's in recovery. We'll be keeping her asleep for a few hours. You should go home, get some sleep, and come back later. There's no reason for you to be here now. She's stable and expected to make a full recovery." The doctor said.

Elena smiled and hugged Lexi tightly. Anna was going to ok. Frederick didn't kill her. She survived. They were all going to survive.

* * *

She was thoroughly confused. She was interested in seeing Klaus' amenities but didn't expect anything like what they pulled up to.

"This is a hotel." She said, crooking her eyebrow at him.

"I don't have furniture yet therefore I cannot move into my apartment. I'm at the hotel until next week. But stay calm, my apartment has multiple rooms as does my hotel room. I'm in a suite with three rooms." He explained as they walked inside.

"A suite? Three rooms? At the Plaza hotel?" she asked.

She didn't know much about New York City despite the face that she'd lived there for the past few months. But she did know that the Plaza was ridiculously expensive for the tiniest room, much less a multi-room suite. Klaus shrugged and grinned coyly.

"How rich are you?" she muttered.

"That is none of your concern." He said simply.

Elena glared at him.

"It is if I have to pay you back." she countered.

"But you aren't going to pay me back so fair is fair." Klaus informed her.

"You're infuriating, you know that?" she asked.

"You haven't even seen me at my worst." He said with a cocky grin.

Elena rolled her eyes as they walked up to the desk.

"Klaus Mikaelson." He said to the hotel receptionist.

The woman nodded and pressed a button on the desk where she was. Elena watched with confusion as a man ran out of a door behind the desk and smiled at Klaus.

"How was your day, Mr. Mikaelson?" he asked, reaching out and shaking his hand.

"It was quite nice, Gerald. This is Elena. She's with me." he said simply.

"Oh, Mrs. Mikaelson. It is very nice to meet you." he said, holding his hand out.

"Oh I'm not…" she began, flushing with embarrassment.

"She's not used to that, are you darling? We were only married a month ago, after all." Klaus said, grabbing her hand.

She felt the same warm feeling immediately but squashed it to look at him with confusion.

"I understand. Come right this way. I'll escort you to your room to make sure everything is still to your liking." Gerald said.

"That's all right. Just take us to the elevator and we'll be fine." Klaus shrugged.

The man nodded and took them into the back and to a row of five elevators at the end of the hall. He pressed the button on the first one and slid a keycard into the scanner below the button. The door opened and he gestured for them to climb in. Elena was thoroughly confused but she didn't think that this was how every guest was treated. It was an uncomfortable silent elevator ride up to the very top level.

"It's not just a suite, is it? It's a penthouse?" she asked.

"Nothing but the best for you, Mrs. Mikaelson." He said with a grin as the door dinged open.

"What is that about?" she asked as she turned around to walk backwards.

"What?" he replied.

"You pretending I'm your wife." She shot back.

"It's only for a week, lovely. I'm sure you'll be fine. It's a good cover in case anyone gets suspicious as to why a young woman is staying with me. I'm here to protect you, remember?" he asked, slipping his suit jacket off.

Elena harrumphed and turned to inspect the hotel room. She was faced with a giant living room and a connected full kitchen.

"Holy shit." She said, her eyes wide as saucers.

"Not quite the reaction I was looking for. But it'll do." Klaus said smoothly as he walked into the room and collapsed onto the couch.

"We should go to bed. It's late." Elena said, her motherly attitude coming out automatically.

"I'm too tired to go to bed." He sighed.

"That makes absolutely no sense." She informed him, walking to stand in front of him.

He opened one eye and stared at her for a moment before closing it.

"Fine. Stay here. I'll just guess which one is my room." Elena said, walking out of the living room.

After two tries, she found a medium sized room with several different lotions and body sprays set up on the dresser. She wandered into it and looked around at the comfortable room. When she went to the closet, she was shocked to see that it was filled with clothes that were all in her size.

"Lexi." She sighed, realizing that's why she was acting so weird and talking with Klaus earlier.

She went to the drawers and found them full of clothing as well. When she pulled out a pair of underwear, she blushed when she saw the amount of sheer lace on it.

"Everything to your liking?" his voice came from the door.

She squeaked and threw the barely there underwear back into the drawer before slamming it closed.

"Yeah! Everything's great!" she said, her voice higher pitched than she meant it to be.

"Good. I'm not working tomorrow and they've said that they don't need you at the station. So feel free to sleep as late as you want and then we can go see your friend at the hospital. She'll probably be awake by then." Klaus said.

"Of course." Elena nodded, smiling slightly.

"Goodnight." He said with a nod of his head.

"Goodnight." She replied.

After putting on pajamas, thankfully Lexi supplied her with sweatpants and t-shirts so that she had something decent to wear to bed, Elena figured out that she was rather thirsty. She tiptoed out of her room and in the direction of the kitchen. The noises reached her ears just as she stepped around the corner. She could barely see the top of Klaus' head as he was bent over digging in the fridge. But when he stood up, she gasped loudly and he turned to her, his eyes wide with surprise.

Her eyes instantly roamed his shirtless torso not of her own volition. There was a tattoo of birds on his upper chest and another that she couldn't decipher on his right arm. He was quite toned.

"I was coming to get water." She said, looking past him at the wall once she was able to tear her eyes away.

"Oh." He said, pulling something out of the fridge and holding it out to her.

She looked at his hand and saw a bottle of water.

"Thanks." She said, taking it from him, feeling very awkward in that moment.

When her eyes finally looked into his, she saw that he was looking straight at her face.

"You're welcome." Klaus nodded, smiling slightly.

Elena nodded back before turning to walk out of the kitchen. Once she was out of sight, she practically ran to her room. She undid the covers and climbed into the bed, holding the bottle of water as she stared at the closed door. She was only nineteen. Who knows how old he was? She'd just been through a traumatic experience. That's probably why she was feeling so strange.

But was that really it? She slid down to a laying down position and put the bottle on the bedside table. When her eyes closed, he was the last thing she saw, shirtless and all, before she drifted off into sleep.

* * *

Klaus found it hard to go to sleep, new city, new job, beautiful young girl in the next bedroom over, but it seemed as though when he finally did, he was awoken by the shocking sound of screams. He instantly shot out of the bed and grabbed his gun off of the bedside table before running out of the room. He slammed into Elena's room, where the screams were coming from, and pointed his gun around, looking for any sign of threats. When he saw Elena's huddled body on the bed, her sobs cutting through the air, he put the gun down on the dresser and walked to the bed slowly.

"Elena?" he asked hesitantly.

She looked up at him and he saw tears streaming down her face.

"I had a nightmare." She whimpered, sounding devastated.

"It's ok. You're safe." He assured her, walking to the bed to sit by her.

"What if I'm not? He was there. He was watching me, looking right at me. What if he knows where I am at all times and I'm just kidding myself that I'm safe." Elena asked, hyperventilating slightly.

"Elena, look at me. You are in a penthouse hotel with a lot of security with a police officer who has two guns hidden in this very room. Why do you think that he could get in here? Or anywhere near you?" Klaus asked.

Elena simply shuddered in reply and drew her knees up to her chest, tears silently leaking down her face.

"Why are people who are so evil allowed to exist?" she whispered, truly stumped by the question.

Klaus was as well. All he knew to do was reach out and rub her shoulder soothingly. What he didn't expect was for her to let out a strangled sob and throw herself into his arms, practically driving herself into his lap. Her face buried into his neck and he threw all of the rules and his own hesitation out the window and held the beautiful, sad girl as she cried.

* * *

**Author's Note: I'm so sorry it's taken me so long to update. You have no idea how bad my writer's block was when it came to all things TVD. I guess it was because it was off the air and I wasn't getting any new ideas from watching it. I promise I will try to keep my updates regular again.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Vampire Diaries**

**Thanks to winxgirl1997, tvdxobsessed, CovertPersona, Heartnets, Lamiya, kittkat122, and Meredith for reviewing the last chapter**

* * *

Elena inhaled deeply as she slowly pulled her mind out of its sleepy state. The first thing she smelled was an amazing mix of a hint of cologne, mint, and scotch. Then her sense of touch was suddenly awakened and she realized that she was lying across a very warm, very shirtless form of a man. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to remember exactly how she got in that position. Klaus' hotel room. Nightmare. He came to comfort her and that's the last thing she remembered.

She must have fallen asleep on him. When she heard light, even breathing from above her head, she knew that he was still asleep. His arm was wrapped lightly around her waist but when she shifted, it slid off without him noticing. Elena slowly moved her head to look up at him. He looked peaceful and a bit younger. Her hand was placed on the exact center of his chest and she shifted up onto her elbow with her hand cradling her head. When she moved a little bit away to study his other tattoo more closely, she realized that it was a roaring tiger. He had a few scars other than the ones he pointed out to her.

One was on his shoulder, a little pink so she knew that it happened more recently than the others. Without thinking about it, her hand drifted over his chest, over the three birds and then to the scar on the other shoulder. She let her finger trail over it softly, wondering what happened to create it. As her eyes were fixed on the little scar, she didn't notice her bedfellow's eyes flutter open at her light touch. When his blue eyes fixed on hers and his body shifted underneath hers, she froze, finally realizing what she was doing.

Her dark brown eyes finally lifted to meet his, her cheeks coloring with chagrin at being caught doing something so embarrassing. It wasn't enough that he found her crying her eyes out over a ridiculous nightmare, but now she couldn't keep her hands off of him while he slept. Why was she so creepy? She half expected a smirk to appear on his face and a sarcastic remark to slip out of his mouth in that beautiful accent of his. Beautiful accent? Was she really crushing on her, for all intents and purposes, bodyguard?

But instead his eyes remained fixed on hers and his mouth stayed as it was.

"How did you get this?" she finally whispered to break the silence, not moving her finger from the scar.

"Got shot." He breathed.

Her eyes widened and her hand laid flat over it as if to protect it from her sight.

"Does that happen a lot? Getting shot?" Elena asked, keeping her voice quiet.

She didn't know why they were having a whispered conversation seeing as they were the only ones in the entire apartment, much less her room.

"I've been shot three times. Once in the shoulder, once in the leg, and once in the back." he explained softly, not making a move to shudder away from her in disgust as she half expected him to do.

"That's horrible." She said, grimacing slightly.

"Yeah well it gives me an excuse to get more tattoos of birds." He said, gesturing to the three circling birds on his chest.

"You got them because you got shot three times?" Elena asked, raising her eyebrow.

He shrugged, not taking his eyes off of her.

"Sorry for last night. I didn't mean to wake you up." She apologized.

"Don't be sorry. I got plenty of good sleep." He said, finally smirking at her.

She giggled and flushed red, still not moving her hand and suddenly becoming aware that her body was pressed against his.

"We should probably get up. I need to go see Anna." She said, still smiling at him.

"Yes, we should." He agreed.

Neither of them made any move to get up and Elena sighed, finding that she didn't want to leave that spot. Yep, it was for sure. She was definitely crushing big time on her bodyguard and that was obviously not going to end well. Not just because a murdering, drug-running, prostituting maniac was hunting her, but also there were apparently rules against such things.

"Elena." He murmured, making her look back up at him to see him suddenly looking serious.

"Up. Hospital." She nodded, pushing away from him and sitting on the other side of the bed with her back to him.

When she felt his hand drifting over her shoulder where her t-shirt fell to the side, she shivered slightly, warm shivers erupting through her whole body. When she felt his mouth at her ear, she suddenly felt heat rushing to her lower body, mainly the apex of her thighs and she fought back a breathy moan.

"Elena?" he whispered.

God her name sounded like sex coming from his gorgeous accent.

"Y-yeah?" she replied shakily, her chest heaving slightly.

"Do you want breakfast?" he questioned, his lips moving even closer to where they brushed her ear.

"Mm-hm." She mumbled, her voice higher than she would have liked it to be.

"Good I'll make some." He said before disappearing.

She turned just in time to see him sliding off of the bed and walking to the door. When he was gone, she took a deep breath and couldn't help the giddy grin that erupted on her face. Even though he most likely would never feel the same way about her, that moment of arousal and the image of his perfectly sculpted chest was enough to keep her daydreaming about him all day long.

* * *

After a shower, fixing her hair, and getting dressed, Elena walked out into the kitchen. The smell of bacon reached her and her stomach growled loudly.

"Someone is hungry." Klaus laughed, handing her a plate piled with eggs, bacon, and sausage.

"Yes I am." Elena agreed, trying not to act awkward as she naturally tended to be.

She was still eighteen, after all. She leaned against the counter and took a bite of the eggs before murmuring appreciatively.

"This is really good." She sighed, taking a bite of bacon and then sausage.

"Slow down, killer." He laughed, handing her a glass of orange.

"You have no idea how long it's been since I've had a substantial meal. Usually I skipped breakfast and then ate whatever at the club." Elena said before continuing her assault on his delicious food.

"Well eat up lovely. We've got a hospital to get to. Lexi called me and she's there. Anna is awake." He said.

Elena stared at him with wide eyes before shoving the food in her mouth and drinking the orange juice quickly.

"Let's go!" she exclaimed, unconsciously grabbing his hand and dragging him to the door.

"Erm, Elena?" he asked.

"Hmm?" she threw over her shoulder.

"I'm still without a shirt and you've got no shoes on." he reminded her.

Elena looked down at her simple jeans and black silky shirt with a blue blazer combo. Then she looked back at him and wondered how she missed that he was still shirtless. Then she realized that she hadn't missed it and that she was simply used to it and preferred that he remained sans shirt all the time.

"You get dressed. I'll get shoes." She nodded, grinning at him before taking off to her room.

Ten minutes later, she was standing there with heels that matched her blue blazer and her purse in hand. He had on black pants and a grey sweater with black dress shoes.

"Now let's go?" she asked, not wanting to get overly eager again.

"Yes." He nodded, grinning a sexy smile at her, causing her stomach to flip and her heart to skip a beat.

She smiled back and then followed him out the door. When they got outside, there was already a police escort waiting on them and a black town car.

* * *

When they arrived at the hospital, Elena and Klaus were sharing stories about their families. It turned out that he had a rather large family, three brothers and a sister.

"Now I told you there would be a test later, what are their names?" he asked with a grin as they walked up the steps.

"Elijah, Finn, Kol… Rebekah!" she said, grinning at him.

"Yes, and Rebekah lives here. Kol lives in L.A. Elijah lives in Boston, and Finn lives in London near my mum." He nodded.

"Whose name is Esther." Elena said.

"Mh-mm. And you have your mother and father, John and Isobel. Your aunt and uncle, Miranda and Grayson, and a cousin Jeremy." He said.

"Yes." Elena said, laughing at their quizzing of each other.

"Mystic Falls, Virginia." He said, going to hometowns now.

"London, England." she shot back as she easily walked through the door that he opened for her, used to his gentlemanly ways by now.

They walked in the direction that the receptionist pointed them. Stefan and Damon were outside of the door.

"Lexi's in there, Elena." Stefan said, gesturing to the door.

"We'll stay out here." Klaus assured her.

Elena nodded and turned to the door, sighing heavily before walking in. Lexi looked up, her usual grin in place, and Anna turned to look at Elena.

"Oh my God. You're ok." Anna breathed, smiling through the bruises and cuts on her face.

"Hey." Elena said, rushing to her bed as tears sprung to her eyes.

"Frederick told us the worse things. He said that you killed Rose and the gunshots that we heard were you shooting at him." the banged up girl whimpered.

"No, I didn't!" Elena exclaimed, horrified.

"I know. We all knew that he was lying. We thought he'd killed you too and was coming up with excuses." Anna said, taking Elena's hand with her good one.

"I'm so sorry. It's my fault that he did this to you." Elena cried, stroking her arm softly.

"No, it's Frederick's fault. And I don't really give a shit. I mean, I don't remember anything. They told me I was… raped. But I don't remember that. I think I might have already been passed out from the beating. I'm out of there, Elena. He can't get me back now because apparently there are a bunch of cops surrounding the place and protecting me. I bet one of them is sexy enough to get a date with when I get out of here, huh?" Anna asked, her eyes sparkling happily despite her ragged appearance.

"Hell yeah." Elena said, laughing.

"Speaking of sexy cops, you should meet the one who Elena is staying with for safety reasons. He's sexy and British." Lexi said, causing Anna to stretch her neck out and look out of the glass door of the room.

"Which one is he? Because frankly none of those guys are bad looking." She said, marveling over Damon, Stefan and Klaus, who were talking amongst themselves.

"The blonde one." Lexi said proudly.

Elena laughed through her tears at Anna's thumbs up.

"This can't bring me down, 'Lena. You know that. We're fighters, you and me. Always will be." Anna said, squeezing her hand.

The door opened and a nurse walked in.

"All right, ladies. I'm sorry to tell you this but your friend has been through a lot whether she wants to admit it or not. She needs rest. You can come back later this evening." She said.

"Love you Anna." Her and Lexi said at the same time as they exited the room.

"Ready? We have to get to the station. I think it's about time that you girls found out who our other informant is. He's coming in today." Damon said.

"Even I don't know. This must be privileged information." Lexi said, hooking her arm through Elena's as they walked through the hospital with the boys trailing them.

Suddenly Elena gasped and backed up, turning to hide.

"What is it?" Klaus asked as she bumped into his chest.

"Caroline and Bonnie." She whispered, her face drained of all color at having seen them in the waiting room.

"Your friends from the club?" he asked, sounding a bit panicked.

"Yes, Klaus they can't see me! What if Frederick is here?" she cried, her mind in full blown panic mode.

"He's not. There are police stationed all around this hospital keeping an eye out for him. If he were here, they'd know." Klaus assured her, unconsciously rubbing her arm comfortingly.

"What do we do?" Elena asked, not realizing that she'd stepped right into Klaus and that her head was almost laid against his chest.

He sighed and closed his eyes.

"Can you trust them?" Damon asked.

"Of course. They would never give me up to Frederick." She said with absolute certainty, looking at the others.

"You need to talk to them. We can't turn and leave because they've spotted us and that would look suspicious. We can't very well sneak past them because; well you're dressed rather bright. So Elena you need to go talk to them." He said, pushing her backwards.

"But…" She began.

She didn't get a chance to end the protest as he whirled her around and she came face to face with her two friends.

"Oh my God! It is you!" Caroline cried, flying forward and sweeping Elena up in hug.

Bonnie was next to embrace her. Then they looked past her at Lexi, Damon, Stefan, and Klaus.

"Lexi?" they both questioned, looking utterly confused.

Elena felt her heart plummet. They were about to find out everything.

"What the hell is going on?" Caroline demanded.

* * *

**Author's Note: I updated for you as quickly as I could! Sorry about the short chapter but I figured that was a good cliffhanger. Review please!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I do not own TVD, just this storyline**

**Thanks to idontgiveadamnsoshutup16, SassyTheLass, winxgirl1997, Lamiya, tvdxobsessed, Meredith, xXxForeverBittenxXx, Elena and Klaus, the killer tigeress, JessBecauseIAm, CovertPersona, Randy.73, kadavers315, and my guest reviewer and all of my lovely readers! I love you!**

* * *

Elena couldn't stop bouncing her leg as she sat in the small hospital café with Bonnie, Caroline and Lexi. As she found it hard to speak without her voice shaking, Lexi was talking confidently to the two girls. Every once in a while, Lexi would ask her about a specific detail and she would offer it up hesitantly, choosing to stare down at her hands when her name wasn't brought up. When a hand reached over and took hers, she looked up with surprise to see Caroline smiling softly. Lexi wasn't talking anymore so she must have finished the story

"I'm so sorry you had to go through all of that alone. I wish we could have been there for you." the blonde said, Bonnie nodding along with her words.

"I'm not sorry. I mean, if I hadn't I'd still be stuck in that hellhole. I am glad that you didn't know or you would have been in danger too." Elena said, squeezing her friend's hand.

"So what happens now? I mean, Frederick attacked Anna, we all knew that. Caroline and I were going to quit but we were scared too. You know, for obvious reason." Bonnie said, looking between Lexi and Elena.

Elena looked over to where Klaus, Stefan, and Damon were sitting at a table.

"I don't know. I'm worried that you're in danger simply because you're my friends." she said.

Klaus met her eyes and, as if he immediately understood what she needed, he got up and crossed the café to stand next to her. Damon and Stefan followed him.

"If you ladies feel as though your lives are in danger at all, we can put you in witness protection upstate until Frederick is dealt with." He offered to Bonnie and Caroline.

"They are in danger. As much danger as Anna was in and every other girl in there still is in." Elena said, her eyes pleading with him.

"What about Elena and Lexi? Are they going into witness protection?" Bonnie asked.

"We're staying in New York to help them. We're both protected by these fine young men." Lexi said, grinning up at Stefan.

"Yeah, it sounds like such a hardship." Caroline laughed, slipping back into her snarky yet loveable persona.

Elena laughed when she eyed Klaus appreciatively.

"That one is Elena's." Lexi said with a wink.

"Ooh can you share?" Caroline asked, biting her lip as she grinned at Elena.

"Absolutely not." She said, crossing her arms and shaking her head.

She was only half joking. There was absolutely no way that Caroline was going to get her hands on her bodyguard, no matter how much she loved the girl. Elena blinked her eyes quickly. Since when did she begin to be possessive over Klaus?

_Since I slept in your bed last night, lovely._ His voice echoed through her head, spot on with the same teasing tone.

"I don't mind…" Klaus began, poised to make a joke that would make a sailor blush with shame.

But Elena stood and clapped her hand over his mouth.

"He's my bodyguard. Get your own." her eyes widened when the possession came out in her voice.

Caroline grinned up at her.

"Hey Klaus, when she starts singing 'I Will Always Love You', well you know that she's in love." she said with sparkling eyes.

Elena rolled her eyes and took her hand away from his mouth.

"I hate to cut this short, ladies. But we have to get to the police station and you two have to wait about a day for us to get the paperwork to get you put in witness protection." Damon said.

Elena's smile fell and she looked at Klaus worredly.

"Don't worry, we'll put a plainclothes officer on guard in their hallway." He said softly.

"Thank you." she nodded.

"Wait, what are your names?" Stefan asked.

Elena listened closely, having never actually heard Bonnie and Caroline's last names just like they'd never heard hers. It just wasn't necessary to tell them to each other. They also didn't want Frederick to find out just in case.

"Bonnie Bennett."

"Caroline Forbes."

Elena, Lexi, Stefan, Damon, and Klaus all looked at the blonde with wide eyes. Could it be a coincidence that she was named the same as their very own sex trafficking detective? Looking at Caroline, she did have some similar features as Liz Forbes. The same blonde hair and blue eyes.

"Don't say anything until we know. Caroline never talks about her family so I'm pretty sure it's a sore spot." Elena murmured lowly to everyone so that Caroline and Bonnie wouldn't hear.

"The officer will be there when you get there." Stefan assured them, putting his hand on Lexi's shoulder.

"I'm sorry about this." Elena said in farewell as they were steered out of the café.

When they got outside, she sighed loudly and ran her fingers through her hair.

"You ok?" Lexi asked, putting an arm around Elena's shoulders.

"I just wish… I wish that Frederick was dead. I've never wished that someone was dead before but he is such a horrible person! People like him don't deserve to live!" she cried, feeling tears stinging her eyes.

"Caroline and Bonnie deserve to live a full life. They don't deserve to be put away in a cabin in the middle of the woods because some bastard is constantly threatening their lives. Anna doesn't deserve to be in a hospital bed with a broken body! Rose doesn't… Rose doesn't deserve to be dead! Frederick does! Why does he get to live?" the tears were spilling over by now and she stopped short in the parking lot as they blurred her vision.

She expected Lexi to pull her into a hug like she always did when she was freaking out. So when two much stronger, more muscular arms wrapped around, she didn't question it for some reason, recognizing Klaus' arms. She didn't know if that was a sad reflection on her or a good one. Either way, she wasn't complaining that he was the one who was comforting her. When she finally got her breathing back to normal, she pulled away from him and wiped off her face.

"That's it. I'm tired of crying. No more crying. Even if he can't see me, I won't give him the satisfaction." She nodded, promising both the people around her and herself.

Lexi began to say something but she was interrupted by Stefan's cell phone ringing. He answered it and panic showed on his face.

"Get them out, now." He said, pulling Lexi to the car.

"What's wrong?" Elena demanded as Klaus did the same, following them to the black car.

"Frederick has been spotted around the hospital." Stefan said as they pushed Lexi and Elena in together before the three detectives climbed in.

As they pulled away, all five people were sweeping the area around them with their eyes. When they were out of sight of the hospital, they all relaxed a little.

"You're sure he won't get anywhere near Anna?" she asked with uncertainty, looking at Klaus.

"She's well guarded." He assured her, rubbing her arm soothingly just like he had when she spotted Caroline and Bonnie in the hospital.

* * *

When they pulled up to the police station, Elena felt as though they were in a routine. The three men surrounded her and Lexi protectively as they walked inside and they immediately went to the homicide wing, ignoring the clueless receptionist that Elena still held animosity towards for how she treated her that first day. When they walked in, she gasped loudly, recognizing the mysterious person simply from seeing their back.

She supposed that it shouldn't have been a surprise. He was, after all, far too good of a guy to put up with the shit that Frederick did. And as Lexi said, he was studying to be a teacher.

"Alaric!" she breathed, starting forward as she broke the protective circle.

He turned from where he was talking to Tyler and looked relieved, not surprised. He must have already been told about her whereabouts. She barely thought about it before she launched into his arms. He didn't question her actions, simply hugging her back.

"You look better than last time I saw you. I'm glad you're safe." He murmured in her ear.

"I'm glad you're safe. I was worried that when he was shooting at me that Frederick might have accidentally shot you since you were between us while I was running away. She said, pulling away to smile softly at him.

"It's great to see you out of there, Elena. A girl like you didn't deserve to be there. None of you did." He said, smoothing her hair.

His eyes slid past her to Lexi and he nodded at her, smiling slightly.

"So you're the other mole, huh?" Lexi asked teasingly, walking forward to stand next to Elena.

"I am, and a hell of a lot better than you two. I've been informing on Frederick for a year now and I've never been caught. I think you two should teach classes on how not to be a mole." He said, making them laugh.

"Ric." Damon said, walking forward and shaking his hand.

"Damon. Stefan." He nodded at the brothers.

"I'm Klaus." her bodyguard introduced himself, shaking Alaric's hand as well.

"I'm Alaric Saltzman. You can call me Ric if you want. Everyone else does." He said.

"So how about you tell us what's been going on in that club in the last few days." Damon said, steering Ric towards the comfortable room.

Elena hung back as everyone walked off.

"Aren't you going?" a voice said from behind her.

She looked to see Liz holding a cup of coffee and nodding at the group following Alaric.

"I have absolutely no interest in learning what is going on in that place." she said with a disgusted look.

"I understand. Sometimes I don't even want to know and I've been working hard to bring this bastard down for years." The older woman sighed, leaning against her desk.

"How did you get into the Frederick case?" Elena asked, attempting to subtly look for any hints that Liz and Caroline might be related.

"I got assigned to the Frederick case but that was just luck. I got into the sex crimes business in New York for… well… personal reasons." Liz shrugged.

Elena nodded, not pushing her any further lest she get suspicious.

"My daughter left home when she was fifteen with a delinquent that she met at a party. She was convinced that she was in love with him. They came to New York and we totally lost contact. I came here with the intention of finding her but she was nowhere to be found. It was like she vanished into thin air. That's when I became certain that she'd gotten mixed up in the worse business in the world. I transferred to New York hellbent on destroying every single sex crimes boss in the city until I found my daughter. That was four years ago. She'd be nineteen now. Hell I don't even know if she's still alive." She sighed.

"I'm sorry." Elena said softly.

"I miss my Caroline every day and I wish more than anything that I could see her again to apologize for everything. For divorcing her dad. For driving her into the arms of that creep. For everything."

Liz looked terribly confused when Elena broke into a wide smile and embraced her tightly.

"Not that I don't appreciate the hug, but it's a bit strange. Especially with that smile on your face."

Elena drew away and was still grinning.

"I wasn't sure… I mean none of us were sure. There's a girl that worked with me at Frederick's. I don't guess I ever mentioned her by name but she was one of my closest friends there. She was beautiful and blonde and as bright as sunshine." Elena breathed.

Liz's eyes widened and she looked as though she didn't dare to be hopeful.

"Her name is Caroline Forbes." She said, driving the wonderful news home.

"Oh my God. Caroline… with Frederick all this time?" the woman whispered, looking shocked.

Elena nodded excitedly, pulling her into a hug once again.

"They're drawing up papers for her and Bonnie to be put in witness protection because they were connected to me. She'll be safe come tomorrow." Elena assured her.

Liz had genuine tears in her eyes by this time.

"I've had years to accept the fact that my daughter was probably lost to me. Thank you so much, Elena." She said gratefully, smiling at her.

"I'm glad that I could bring you peace of mind." Elena said.

A hand on her shoulder suddenly distracted her. She turned to see Klaus standing there with an exasperated look on his face.

"Apparently my brother decided to leave early from Los Angeles. He's four hours outside of the city and we have to go and get our stuff moved to my apartment." He said.

"Oh, wow. But I've only been in the hotel for a night." She said, confused.

"My brother wanted to surprise me but Bekah called an told me that Kol was almost here." Klaus explained.

"I'll call an escort while you head out." Liz said.

"Thanks." Klaus nodded, leading Elena out.

"Guess what." She said, grinning at him.

"What?" he asked, looking down at his phone as they walked out.

"It's no fun if you don't guess." She whined, slipping back into her eighteen-year-old mindset.

He looked up at her with a shocked expression.

"I honestly have no idea what's going through that strange mind." He said, his eyes wide like a deer in the headlights.

She scoffed and shoved him slightly, making him laugh and put his arm around her shoulder, drawing her into his side.

"Caroline is Liz's daughter. I told her all about it and Liz was so happy. It was amazing." Elena sighed, feeling giddy about possibly reuniting a mother and daughter.

"That's great." He said, smiling at her as he opened the door for her.

"Guess what else." she said, smirking at him as they walked onto the sidewalk.

"Elena…" he began, furrowing his eyebrows at her.

"Fine! I'm making you dinner tonight as a thank you for letting me invade your manly bachelor pad. I'm a good cook." She said, waiting for the car to pull up to the curb before opening the door to slide inside.

"As much as I would love that, we don't have cooking materials. Raincheck?" He asked.

"Ok. But then we're getting Chinese food in those fun little containers. I've never gotten take out." She said, grinning at him.

"Sounds great." He agreed.

* * *

Two hours later, they were on their way to Klaus' apartment. Elena had to settle for throwing all of the clothes Lexi got for her into trash bags because she didn't have any suitcases or boxes. When she was done, she amused herself by following Klaus around to watch him taking all of his guns out of their hiding spots around the penthouse hotel. The sheer amount of guns he had shocked her but he told her that it was necessary for someone in his line of work.

She replied that he sounded more like an assassin than a detective, which made him bark out laughter and ask her what made her so sure that he wasn't an assassin on the side. Elena had just squinted at him while trying to figure out how he would hide that from everyone.

"I hope that your apartment is as luxurious as that hotel was. I am spoiled by it now." She informed him, turning to stare at him seriously.

He stared at her, probably wondering whether she was serious.

"I'm kidding! I wouldn't care if you lived in a 500 square foot studio apartment and stuck me on a futon. I'm grateful either way." Elena said, patting his hand.

"I'm very glad." Klaus nodded.

When they pulled up and climbed out of the car, Elena's jaw almost dropped. Not only were they directly across from Central Park, but his 'apartment' wasn't an apartment after all. It was a brownstone. A gorgeous one at that. When he walked up to it and opened the door, he gestured for her to go inside.

"I need to get my stuff." She said, gesturing to the car despite the fact that she was peeking into the house.

"I'll get it. You explore." He said, taking her hand in his and pulling her inside.

"Fucking hell. Are you a freaking Kennedy?" she murmured.

Just the entry way was the size of her room in Mystic Falls. It led straight into a formal dining room, which led to the kitchen and then to the living room connected to the breakfast room. She circled back around to the entry way and then walked up the stairs to where the bedrooms were. There were four in total. The master bedroom would obviously be Klaus'. When she heard footsteps, she saw Klaus standing there with a few of her trash bags in his hands.

"Where to?" he asked.

"You pick." She urged him, unsure of which of the three other rooms she wanted.

He looked around and settled on the only other room that had a connected bathroom.

"We'll have to go get you furniture. I don't have any extra. I planned on doing it when I was able to move in." he explained.

"Oh no. That's too much." She argued, shaking her head over the thought of him buying furniture.

"Elena, I would have to do it whether you lived here or not. I'm not going to leave the rooms unfurnished. Now I'll just be able to put a female touch into at least a few of my rooms." He said with a grin, going to carry more stuff in.

This time she walked out to help him, thumping up the stairs with his suitcase in tow as he laughed at her refusal to actually pick it up. When all of the stuff was inside, they walked outside so that Elena could take a look around the street. They walked around for a bit. It almost felt normal. It would have been completely normal if Klaus' eyes weren't constantly scanning the street and if she didn't know that his gun was sitting on his right hip ready to be utilized. When they got back to his brownstone, it was decided that they would order the food.

"What do you want?" he asked as he dialed a number.

"I don't know. I've never had take out Chinese before. But there is a little place in Mystic Falls and I liked the orange chicken with fried rice a lot." Elena said.

Klaus nodded and ordered the food as soon as the person picked up. When he was done, Elena declared that she wanted to answer the door when they got there. She ripped the twenty-dollar bill out of his hand and ran to the door to wait. When he appeared at the door with a smirk on his face, she raised an eyebrow at him.

"Why are you smirking?" she demanded.

"Well first of all, you're adorable when you're excited. It's nice to know that you can still find things to be excited after all of the shit that's happened to you. Second of all, the food won't be here for another twenty minutes." he informed her in that irresistibly sexy accent of his.

"Well then I'll sit my ass on these stairs and wait." She fired back, sitting down stubbornly even though warm shivers when through her body when he called her adorable.

Was it good to be adorable or bad? Was she adorable in a little sister way? Because she did not want to be Klaus' little sister. Her mind flashed back to that morning to the way that he whispered in her ear. A brother like figure doesn't whisper in a girl's ear like that. There was no way that he didn't know how sexy that was. She didn't realize how lost she was in her thoughts until the doorbell rang.

"Food!" She exclaimed, running to it and yanking it open.

The deliverer looked surprised to see her open the door so quickly after he rang the doorbell. He relayed the price to her warily and she handed him the money.

"Keep the change." Klaus said from behind her, startling her a little.

"Thank you." the man nodded, holding out the bag.

Before Elena could reach for it, Klaus stepped up beside her and leaned out. His arm wrapped around her waist and touched her left hip as he took the food.

"Have a nice day." he said pleasantly before he pulled Elena inside with his arm still around her.

She felt a disappointing loss when his hand slid across her back and he walked towards the kitchen. When he realized that she wasn't following, he turned to look at her with a raised eyebrow and a cocky grin.

"What are you waiting for? Close the door and come eat out of these fun little containers." He said.

Before she knew it, her bewildered face relaxed into a grin and she kicked the door closed before walking into the kitchen. He was setting the food out with plastic utensils, forks instead of chopsticks. When she kicked off her heels and jumped up onto the counter, he looked at her with surprise.

"Do you see anywhere else to sit?" she shrugged, folding her legs underneath her and picking up her container.

"I suppose not." He replied, pulling himself up next to her.

"Thanks for dinner." She said with a smile before she took a bite of the rice.

"I would say you're welcome but it's entirely selfish. I only got you dinner so that you'll repay me by making dinner. I'm interested in taking advantage of these good cooking skills you claim to have." He said as he poured soy sauce into his container.

She laughed and shook her head.

"It's nice to know why you really volunteered for me to live here. You just want a cook." Elena said teasingly.

"For your information, Miss Gilbert, I can cook fantastically. Probably better than you can." He said confidently.

"Oh I highly doubt it. We should invite Lexi, Stefan, and Damon over and have a cooking competition. They can be the judges." She nodded.

"No they'll all choose you because they like you more. I should get some that are on my side. I'll get my brother and sister to come over." He said.

"Deal." Elena laughed, reaching out her hand to shake with his.

"By the way, I'm totally gonna kick your ass. I make the best chili ever." She informed him.

"You've never had a steak the way I make it." he shot back, the smack talk beginning.

They were so engrossed in their conversation that neither of them paid attention when another person appeared in the room.

"Well isn't this cozy? Do you have something to tell me, Nik?" a female voice came out of nowhere, causing both of them to jump and whip around to look at the intruder into their comfortable banter.

A really attractive blonde stood there, sky high heels on and her arms crossed over her chest. Her whole body, including the look on her face, didn't leave any doubt in their minds that she was not impressed.

"Hello, Bekah." Klaus said, his face breaking out into a grin.

* * *

**Author's Note: I feel like that chapter was kinda scattered but I hope that it wasn't and I'm just being hard on myself. I hope you liked it! Review please!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I do not own TVD**

**Thanks to winxgirl1997, MrsMaeveSalvatore-Mikaelson, slayerdiaries, tvdxobsessed, Meredith, A fan, Heartnets, the killer tigeress, and Elena and Klaus for reviewing.**

* * *

Elena slowly slid off of the counter in sync with Klaus, her face flushing with embarrassment though she didn't know why. It wasn't as though his sister caught them doing anything embarrassing. They were just talking. Yet from the look on the blonde's face, they might as well have been having sex on the counter.

"I'm waiting." Rebekah said impatiently, her eyes flickering from one guilty looking person to the other.

"Bekah, this is Elena. She's the one that I told you about that's involved in that case." He explained.

"Hmm." Was all the intimidating woman said, eyeing Elena with a calculating look.

"Hello." She said in a soft voice, feeling very uncomfortable under her scrutiny.

"Well, she has good fashion sense. That's enough for me." the other female shrugged, walking forward to throw her arms around her brother.

"I see that Kol hasn't come yet. I am willing to bet that he was sidetracked by a bar or a strip club." Rebekah said in her flawless accent with a roll of her eyes and a flip of her long hair.

At the mention of her previous workplace, a cold chill ran through Elena. It was so intense that it made her shiver and look down at her bare feet as a red flush filled her cheeks. Klaus looked sympathetically at her before refocusing his attention on his sister. Before he was able to say a word, a loud knock sounded on the front door, startling Elena and causing matching grins to spread on the siblings' faces.

"Let me in!" a loud voice shouted from outside.

Rebekah rushed out of the room to let their brother in. Instead of following her, Klaus stepped forward and put his hand under her chin.

"Don't be nervous, lovely. My siblings are nice once you get past the awkward introductions. They'll love you in no time." he assured her, his thumb stroking her jaw.

Elena nodded with difficulty as his hand was still holding her face in place. She almost jumped out of her skin when he pressed a kiss to her forehead and then brushed past her to receive his other guest. Quietly, she slid on her shoes as she heard him give a shout of joy and laughter that filled the house.

"Elena, won't you join us?" Rebekah's voice called out, shocking her even more.

Klaus was right, his little sister seemed to already be warming up to her. She walked out to the entry way and saw a dark haired, dark eyed man standing next to Klaus with a sly grin on his face. Klaus was murmuring to him in low tones, causing both of them to burst into laughter as they slapped each other's backs. Elena fought back a smile as she witnessed a whole different side of her bodyguard.

"This must be your lovely charge. I envy you, Klaus. Perhaps I should have become a detective as well." the new man said with a wink, still grinning.

"Hush Kol. Don't make the poor girl uncomfortable. Elena this is Kol, our idiotic brother." Rebekah said with another roll of her eyes.

"Nice to meet you." she said with a soft smile, reaching out her hand to shake his.

"You can't be over twenty." Kol said, studying her as closely as Rebekah had.

Elena flushed even more under his gaze.

"I'm almost nineteen." She said shyly.

"Hmm." Kol said, sounding eerily similar to the way Rebekah had a few minutes earlier.

"Stop making my girl uncomfortable, both of you. She's supposed to feel safe here." Klaus said, causing Elena's eyes to widen when he called her 'his' girl.

"Always nagging! Don't you two have a trailer to unpack? I will amuse Elena here while you work your ass off." Rebekah said, throwing an arm around Elena's shoulders and steering her into the kitchen.

"Are you sure we shouldn't help?" Elena asked, feeling very overwhelmed by all that was happening, especially by Rebekah's sudden embracing of her.

"Oh trust me, they'll welcome the chance to act all manly with open arms. Men." The blonde stressed the last word as she pulled a bottle of champagne out of her purse.

"To toast Nik's new house. I suppose it's your home too."

"Not for long, hopefully." Elena mumbled, not paying attention to how that sounded.

"You should be grateful that my brother has opened his home to you. He hasn't lived with someone in a very long time." Rebekah said with narrowed eyes, slipping into a protective sister mode.

"Oh I didn't mean it like that! I only meant that I hope that Frederick gets caught soon so that I won't be confined to Klaus' home and he won't have to deal with me. I'm sure it isn't an ideal situation, having a teenage girl suddenly living with him." she said quickly, trying to get the intimidating woman to understand that she wasn't trying to insult her protector.

A wicked smile spreaded across Rebekah's face.

"He's a twenty something man, Elena. I think this is exactly his ideal situation." She said with a wink.

Elena blushed furiously at the insinuation.

"Klaus and I aren't…" she began.

"Well you may not be right now, but I could smell the sexual tension the second I entered this place. Besides, you're a teenage girl. If I remember right, and I should considering I'm only twenty-two, we fall in love far too easily. Don't bother trying to pretend like you don't know what I'm talking about, Elena. I am far too observant for that and I don't appreciate it when people treat me otherwise. If you are truthful with me, we will be friends. If not, then we won't be. Either way, I'll always know the truth. So when I say that there's something there, I am not questioning you. I'm telling you." Rebekah explained, her striking blue eyes filled with fire.

"Ok." Elena said, unsure of how to respond to the woman.

"Now, do you have a job?" she asked, moving on from the previous subject entirely.

"No, I don't. Not after… not after my last one." The younger girl replied, avoiding mentioning exactly what her last job was.

"Hmm." Rebekah murmured once more, turning to see Klaus and Kol walk in with two boxes stacked in each of their arms.

"Kitchen stuff." Klaus informed them.

"Good. I got champagne." Rebekah said.

"Fantastic." Kol said appreciatively.

"Nik, hold on. Elena has just informed me that she has no job. I thought, how boring it must be for her to just be in the company of you and your detective friends. So I think that she should work with me at my shop." The blonde female said in a more commanding manner than a questioning one.

"Your shop?" Elena asked, confused at the change in topic.

"I own a designer boutique on Fifth Avenue. I have one girl working there but I can always use another." Rebekah explained.

"I think that sounds brilliant." Klaus said, smiling at Elena.

"What do you think?" his little sister asked her.

"I think… who am I to turn down such a generous offer? I would love to work at your shop if you'll have me." Elena said, smiling at Rebekah though she was still in shock.

"Magnifique!" Rebekah exclaimed appreciatively, surprising Elena with her sudden use of French.

Kol took in her wide eyes and smiled.

"You might as well get used to it and try to learn at least a bit because Bekah here bursts out in French at the oddest of moments." He murmured to her.

"I don't even know Spanish and I took three years of it in high school." She whispered back with a slight smile, forgetting for a moment that she hadn't even known this man for five minutes.

Kol laughed and clapped Klaus on the back.

"You've found a good one, I like her Klaus. Best keep her around." he said, sounding a bit serious as he exited the kitchen.

He turned to smile at Elena before following his brother out. She honestly had no idea what just happened.

* * *

After three hours, a completely unpacked trailer, and an entire bottle of champagne shared among the four of them, Rebekah and Kol were leaving. She was going back to her own apartment and he went to a hotel down the street. Elena waited in the kitchen as Klaus walked his siblings out. When she heard him talking to them in low tones, she took the champagne glasses that Klaus unpacked for their use to the sink to wash off. When they were clean, she looked around with a frown. She wanted to help out however she could. At her home in Mystic Falls, she was the one who kept everything organized and she was quite good at it.

So she finally picked a cabinet close to the refrigerator and stretched on her tiptoes to put the champagne glasses at the very top since they probably wouldn't be used all that much. When a hand touched her hip, she started and almost dropped the glass she was holding.

"Let me do that, lovely." Klaus murmured in her ear, causing her to shiver as his hand wrapped around hers to take the glass away.

"I can do it." she replied softly, unable to keep a tremor out of her voice at his closeness.

"No need." He said, suddenly spinning her away from the cabinet before he put up the rest of the glasses.

Then he turned to look at her.

"I want to help." She said, still breathless from what just happened.

"Well how about this, I'll turn on some music. We'll unpack the kitchen tonight before we go to bed." He suggested easily, stepping towards her.

Elena automatically put a hand on his chest to stop him from getting any closer. It's as if he could read her mind and he figured out the crush she had on him. He grinned down at her, unaffected by her motion to stop him.

"That sounds good." She agreed, turning away from him to inspect the boxes that were piled up in the center of the kitchen.

"I'm very glad." He said, easing by her, not bothering to avoid brushing his hand against her hip.

He pulled out a computer and set it up on the counter, putting his music on shuffle before picking up a box and setting it on the island. Elena watched as he opened it, biting her lip to decide how she wanted to approach the situation. If he was aware of her burgeoning feelings for him, her first instict was to run and hide. But he didn't know that shy side of her that she'd had in Mystic Falls. He hardly knew anything about her other than what she allowed him to know.

So what was keeping her from acting confident and strong… like Lexi? There was nothing keeping her from it. She didn't know why she was thinking like this but it might have had something to do with the champagne she'd ingested. Her decision was made up as she walked over to him. She laid a hand on his bicep and leaned over the box.

"Any particular place you want these to go?" she asked, looking up at him.

He was smirking at her as if he knew exactly what she was doing. She quirked her eyebrow at him as if to say, 'two can play at this game'.

"How about to the left of where we put the champagne glasses?" he suggested, his eyes not wavering as he stared at her.

"Sounds good." She agreed, picking up the plates and pulling the newspaper off that was used to keep them from breaking.

When she had a stack of them uncovered, she took them to the cabinet and frowned dramatically before looking back at the man she was obviously flirting with.

"My hands are full, do you think you could open the cabinet?" she asked.

"Of course." He nodded, crossing the room in two strides to lean past her and open the cabinet.

"Thank you." she said innocently, looking at him through her lashes before turning to put the plates on the shelf.

When she had them settled, she began to pull away from the counter. Her back collided with his chest and she fought a grin and the blush that would give her away. When she slowly turned to look at him, she saw him with a wide grin.

"You aren't doing anything to help, Detective. If you want to get this kitchen unpacked tonight you need to get your ass over there and…" she was cut off by his finger on her lips.

"I like it when you're commanding. It keeps me in line." He acknowledged.

"Then why did you cut me off?" she asked, her words muffled by his finger.

"Maybe I just wanted to see if your lips are a soft as they look." he shrugged.

It slipped out of her mouth before she could help it as her hand dragged his finger away.

"There's other ways to tell that." she said with a shrug, sliding past him to continue unpacking the boxes.

She was extremely satisfied at having the last word, especially since it left him speechless as he helped her.

"I never thought of you as an AC/DC kinda guy." She finally broke the silence five minutes later, gesturing to his computer.

"I listen to all sorts of music. What did you think I would listen to?" he asked.

"I don't know. Tschaikovsky. Beehtoven. Mozart. You seem like a guy who would love the classical composers."

"I like them too. But my music tastes are varied." He said as he made to walk past her to put a few pots into the drawer beside the stove.

Elena chose that moment to flip her hair over her shoulder, sending a blast of the smell of her shampoo at him. He inhaled deeply and grinned as he continued on his path. After a full hour of dancing around each other, both silently playing the same game without acknowledging that they were doing so other than a few sly looks, they were finally done unpacking the kitchen.

"I'd say that's a job well done. Now we just need to get you some groceries." Elena nodded.

"Not right now, lovely. It's midnight. We should get to bed." Klaus said, much to her disappointment.

She was actually enjoying subtly flirting with him.

"I suppose we should." Elena said, walking towards the living room to the couch.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"To the couch. I don't have a bed, remember?" she said, confused.

"No you will not be sleeping on the couch." He said, shaking his head.

"Am I sleeping on the floor then?" she asked, smirking at him.

"No you'll sleep in my bed. Tomorrow we'll go get you a bed so it's just for one night. I will sleep on the couch."

"No you won't. I won't kick you out of your bed. I've been enough of a pain to you already." Elena argued.

"You will."

"I won't."

Thirty minutes later, Elena was holding back the urge to curse Klaus out as they made his bed together. Suffice to say, she'd lost the argument after childishly suggested the flip a coin. When she lost, she suggested best two out of three rock, paper, scissors. Then best five out of seven. Finally she had to admit that she'd lost and now she was sleeping in his bed despite the fact that she felt terrible over it.

"I hope you sleep well." Klaus said with a grin as he turned to walk out of the room.

She muttered exactly where he could shove his hopes when she went into the bathroom to change into cotton pajama shorts and a white tank top. It was slightly see through but who would be seeing her? Elena climbed into the bed still steaming over the fact that Klaus forced her to take his bed. Luckily, her angry thoughts were interrupted as she easily fell asleep. She would never admit it to Klaus, but his bed was really comfortable.

* * *

Klaus felt as though he'd just gotten comfortable on his rather uncomfortable couch when he was being shaken awake.

"What?" he grumbled, opening his eyes to peer through the darkness.

"I'm sorry." Elena's voice broke as she sniffled softly.

"What's wrong?" he asked, sitting up immediately and pulling her up onto the couch beside him.

"I had another nightmare. I… can't sleep." She sighed, wiping at her face furiously to attempt to get rid of the tears.

"What was it about?" he asked, though he knew exactly what it would be about.

"Frederick. He broke into this place and… he was in the bed." Elena said, ducking her head as she winced at the subject of her nightmare.

Klaus felt a stab of anger. It wasn't a dream in which he was killing her this time. No this was much worse.

"He'll never get in here. Not as long as I'm around." he assured her.

Elena looked up at him with a terrified expression.

"I can't go back to sleep. Not in there… not alone." She said, her cheeks flooding with blood at what she was suggesting.

Klaus stared at her for a moment. Then he stood and held out his hand.

"Come on." he said, pulling her to the stairs and up to the room.

Elena watched carefully as he climbed into the bed, pulling her with him. At first, they were on the two opposite sides of the bed. But Elena couldn't resist the warmth and comfort she felt exuding from him. So she slid over and tucked her head against his bare torso, her hand falling on his chest. She was asleep almost instantly, leaving her bedmate wondering what the hell just happened.

* * *

**Author's Note: I hope you liked it! Review please!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: I do not own TVD**

**Thanks to kadavers315, winxgirl1997, Meredith, Hua Ming Miao, Heartnets, greeneyedbaby2, Lamiya, tvdxobsessed, colleenrawr, slayerdiaries, MrsMaeveSalvatore-Mikaelson, the killer tigeress, Elena and Klaus, and my guest reviewer for reviewing! Love you all!**

* * *

_Her eyes fluttered open. The room felt empty and Elena had a theory as to why._

"_Klaus?" she mumbled, sliding her hand over to where he should have been._

_Instead of being met with a warm body that made her body break out in warm goosebumps, she was met with a cold sheet. Not just cold. What was that? It was… wet. She sat up with a gasp and ripped the blankets up. It was everywhere. Dark and terrifying. The blood was all over her hands._

"_Klaus!" she screamed, stumbling away from the bed._

_That's when she saw the blood on the floor. The drops of the liquid led to the door. She walked to it slowly and pulled it open. A bloody handprint was on the wall and the blood on the floor continued to lead to the stairs. When she looked over the railing, she saw him lying at the bottom of the stairs._

"_Oh my God!" she cried, flying down the stairs to see if he was dead._

_The blood was everywhere. She couldn't find the wound. His eyes were closed and his face was slightly grey. Elena was sobbing by now._

"_Please don't be dead." She pleaded, putting her blood covered hands on his chest and performing CPR to try to revive him._

_Suddenly she was ripped off of his body and thrown into the wall. She couldn't see the person who pulled her off as they were shrouded in darkness but she was certain that it was Frederick._

"_No!" she shouted as he advanced on her trembling body._

* * *

Elena jumped as she woke up, kicking out her legs and gasping loudly. She didn't expect to have another nightmare when Klaus was there. When she rolled over, there was an empty space next to her. Fear overtook her body and she ripped the comforter off of the bed. There was no blood. Elena sighed with relief and looked around. It was still dark outside so where he could be was a mystery to her. With her heart still pounding from fear, she slid out of the bed and padded to the door.

When she heard a muffled voice from downstairs, she quietly walked down, not wanting to distract him. He was in the kitchen. When she walked in silently, she saw him leaning against the counter pinching the bridge of his nose between two fingers with his eyes closed as he talked on the phone quietly. She stood still, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"… I understand. Yeah. We'll stay here just in case. Thanks, Jonas. That's good. Did Liz see her? Good." Klaus murmured into the phone. "Yeah I'll check in with you in a few hours."

He sighed as he hung up the phone, his eyes sliding open. He didn't look surprised to see her standing there and Elena chocked it up to his superior detective senses. He must have heard her coming down the stairs as they were a bit creaky.

"I apologize if I woke you up, Elena." He said softly, running his fingers through his hair.

"You didn't." she said sleepily as she crossed her arms over her chest.

He looked as though he would ask her why she was awake but she interrupted him first.

"What's going on?" she asked, walking over to lean against the cabinet next to him.

"Frederick has disappeared. Alaric said he hasn't showed up at the club ever since Anna was put in the hospital. We can't be sure what he's doing but we're worried that he's looking for you. He's already spotted you at the park with the police so we need to keep you out of sight for a while. So you and I get to stay here for a few days just to keep you out of the public eye and Jonas is sending over a squad car to keep an eye on the outside." He explained.

Elena sighed. "I'm sorry." She said miserably.

"For what?" he asked.

"I'm being such a pain in the ass. I can't believe I'm keeping you a prisoner in your own home. Especially when Kol is here and you probably want to spend time with him." she said, burying her head in her hands.

His hands wrapped around her wrists and brought them away from her cheeks, stroking the inside of them softly.

"It is absolutely not your fault. Besides, what is better than spending a few days with you, lovely?" he said, smiling at her.

"Sunshine." Elena said while smiling slightly, her spirits slightly lifted by his assurances.

"Overrated." Klaus brushed off.

"Your siblings."

"Assholes, the lot of them."

"Food that isn't take out."

"Take out food is the best. It's so easy."

"You're very stubborn."

"Admit it, Elena, you love that I'm stubborn."

She rolled her eyes but felt much better at his reassurances.

"What time is it?" she asked.

"I think it's about three in the morning." He said, looking down at his phone for confirmation.

Her eyes snapped up and she shook her head.

"It is far too early. Back to bed!" she commanded, grabbing his hand without thinking to march back upstairs and to the comfortable, warm bed.

Klaus' warm hand melded around hers perfectly as he allowed her to drag him out of the kitchen. She found herself blushing at her lack of control when it came to touching him. She would blame it on her sleepiness but she knew that wasn't it. She just loved the way it felt when they were touching. Before they made it to the stairs, he stopped short and caused her to stumble a bit. Elena turned to look at him with questioning eyes. The moonlight was shining through the windows of the entry way and catching on his hair and making his eyes shine in the darkness like blue sapphires.

"Are you ok?" she asked, stunned by his sudden silence and lack of movement.

He looked down at their joined hands. Slowly, he pulled her back towards him until they were inches apart.

"You are driving me insane, Elena." He whispered, reaching out to brush his thumb over her cheek.

Elena bit her lip, feeling a bit ashamed. It was very unfair of her to flirt with him and such when he had strict rules to follow. Though it hadn't been all her. In fact, he'd been flirting with her from the very beginning as well. He had no qualms about touching her from the moment he met her. It was hard to believe that was only a few days ago. It felt like years. Thinking back to the way that he touched her the first morning that they woke up in the same bed made her flush. He'd touched her so softly when she drew away and tried to put some distance between them.

Just thinking about it made her shiver. But then again she hadn't exactly kept her hands to herself. In fact, she'd shamelessly touched his shirtless chest. Rebekah's words echoed through her mind.

"_I could smell the sexual tension the second I entered this place."_

If she thought what they had before was sexual tension, how would she react seeing their current predicament.

"I'm sorry." She murmured, looking at the floor out of shame and embarrassment.

For all she knew, his flirting was just his personality. He most likely didn't even see anything in her. After all, she was just eighteen. Rebekah was wrong. There was no possible way that he wanted her. But then again, he had said she was driving him insane. And he was holding her so close. In fact, he was pulling her even closer. She didn't fight against him as he tilted her cheek up. Their chests were practically pressed together and Elena didn't mind it one bit. But he had to have felt her heart thundering against his chest.

"There is absolutely nothing to be sorry for." He whispered, his warm breath washing over her face and making her almost melt into his arms.

Or was it his sexy accent, once again? Either way, she was unable to say anything but his name in a soft, breathy voice.

"Klaus." his smirk disappeared and he stared down at her with eyes full of emotions.

Little did she know that the way she just said his name was quite possibly the most beautiful thing she could have ever done. The way it sounded almost desperate yet with an adoring tone as well. His face moved slightly closer, following the demands of his body to claim this girl as his own. Elena inhaled sharply as she realized what was going to happen. Instead of stopping him as her reasonable side told her to, she threw all logic out the window and pushed herself up onto her toes. Their lips met softly at first, both sets of eyes fluttering closed as they relished in the feeling of each other's soft lips. When Elena's arms snaked up his biceps to his neck and into his hair, he sighed slightly and wrapped his arms around her back, pulling her up and closer to him.

In the process, her shirt rode up and allowed his hands to meet with her heated skin. Elena whimpered at the touch and knotted her fingers into his hair, pulling him closer and urging him to continue their kiss as she felt too limp to do so herself. He slowly back them up towards the wall so that they would have something to lean on. Once her back hit the cold wall, she hissed sharply and her leg hiked up around his waist to avoid the coolness. Unfortunately, or fortunately, this caused her to rub against his rapidly tightening pants and for his mouth to fall open slightly at the feeling.

Elena blushed furiously as she felt his reaction to their simple, soft kiss. If this was all it took to get him going, what would he do if they were really kissing? Her more devious, confident side really wanted to find out. So she opened her mouth slightly and swept her tongue across his bottom lip, causing him to groan and press into her. Finally they both broke through their hesitation and began kissing as passionately as they could. Their mouths melded together as easily as their bodies did. Heat flashed through both of their bodies and they attempted to press even closer to each other.

She nipped at his bottom lip as his hand began to travel up her back, unintentionally pulling her shirt with it. His hand captured her hair and began running through the long tresses as their kisses went back and forth between sweet and soft and strong and passionate. Neither of them wanted to stop anytime soon. Once again, Rebekah's words broke through her mind. Sexual tension indeed.

* * *

**Author's Note: I know that wasn't long and I'm sorry! But they kissed! I hope you all liked it. Review please and I'll give you fluffy, sexy, hot Klaus/Elena alone time next chapter. Unfortunately no lemons yet because I don't want to move too incredibly fast. And at the end of the chapter, one of my personal favorite characters is showing up. I'll give you a hint. His name starts with 'E' and ends with 'lijah' and he has a penchant for ripping out hearts on the show.**

**To give you something else to look forward too, a huge gamechanger is showing up in the next few chapters. A very shocking plot twist that brings our beloved characters back to a little place called Mystic Falls.**


	11. Another Author's Note - Sorry!

**Sorry guys, this is an author's note, not an update. Please read though because it is very important.**

To all of my fantastic readers, I just wanted to update you on a new story. If any of you like/love Supernatural like I do, I suggest that you go and read my new story. It is a TVD/Supernatural crossover. The relationship is Elena/Dean (even though I love my Klaus/Elena and Damon/Elena). I really just wanted to do something different and explore Elena's personality in a completely different universe. Don't worry, our favorite TVD characters will show up in the story but it is mainly in the Supernatural universe.

Here is the summary:

**When Elena is resurrected after Klaus' ritual, something goes wrong. She sees visions of a man in hell being tortured. Instead of staying in Mystic Falls, she decides to leave to help this man. Little did she know that she would be sucked into a whole new world of supernatural beings. Rated M for violence, language, and sexual content (because it's Dean Winchester). Elena/Dean**

Please read this story and let me know what you think. Also, review review review! I need your feedback more than anything! Thanks to all of you who are my favorite people in the world for reading my stories!

Here is the link:

http: **SLASH SLASH **www **DOT **fanfiction **DOT **net **SLASH **s **SLASH **8780998 **SLASH **1 **SLASH **Hell **DASH **s **DASH **Bells

The story is named **Hell's Bells**.


	12. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: I do not own TVD**

**Something strange is happening and I'm not sure if it's showing up that there is a new chapter. But this is a new chapter, not an author's note. I will try to make it show up.**

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed!**

**I am apologizing for the last few posts being author's notes. I am terribly sorry and I hope this fluffy chapter makes up for it! Please forgive me! Especially you, MissMaeveSalvatore-Mikaelson!**

* * *

Elena stared up at Klaus with shock when they broke apart. He stared down at her, not speaking either.

"We just kissed." She whispered without unlocking her arms from around his neck or her leg from where it was hooked around his waist.

"Yes, we did." he agreed.

"Wow."

"Indeed."

Finally he managed to untangle himself from her grasp and he backed away. She felt his loss as a cold blast of air hit her.

"I'm not tired anymore." she informed him.

"Nor am I." he replied, running his fingers through his hair.

"Should we unpack more?" it slipped from her mouth before she could help it.

He stared at her.

"That sounds like a good idea. Nice and… distracting."

She nodded and pushed away from the wall.

"You should… put something on. Those clothes are… very…" he trailed off, unsure of how to finish his request.

"I should." She agreed, turning to walk up the stairs.

Suddenly his hand caught hers and he yanked her back around to his chest. Their lips met once more and she found herself melting into the kiss. He pulled away as quickly as he'd grabbed her and nodded.

"I was not done." Klaus informed her.

"Okay." Elena nodded, turning back to the stairs and stumbling up them.

After throwing on a pair of sweatpants and a zip-up hoodie, she pulled on some socks and walked back down the stairs. Klaus was in the living room opening up boxes with a pair of scissors cutting the tape.

"What can I do?" she asked, pushing the sleeves of her hoodie up and waiting for him to direct her somewhere.

"You can start taking out the picture frames and other knick-knacks from those boxes over there, if you like." he said, pointing to about four boxes in the middle of the room.

Elena giggled and he looked up at her.

"What?" he questioned, unable to keep the smile off of his face at the grin on hers.

"You said knick-knacks." She said giddily, walking to the boxes and sliding onto the floor to begin pulling out the newspaper wrapped valuables.

"So I did. What exactly are you going to do about it?" he asked, narrowing his eyes playfully at her.

"Laugh at you." she shrugged, grinning at him.

"Hmph." He grumbled, opening a box and pulling out stacks and stacks of DVD's and CD's.

The entertainment system was already set up from him and Kol insisting upon doing it the previous night. Elena found herself looking at the many picture frames as she unwrapped them. Some of them had Klaus, Rebekah, and Kol in them. A few others had people she hadn't met and assumed that they were the other members of Klaus' family. Elijah, Finn, and Esther, his mother. Every once in a while, she would glance over at Klaus and see his perfectly red lips moving as he mouthed the titles of the DVD's and CD's that he was retrieving from the box.

The image would send a flash of heat through her body and she would snap her attention back to her own boxes. Then she would feel his eyes on her every once in a while and a shiver of desire would run through her veins. A few times, their eyes accidentally met when they both turned to look at the other and they would stare for a few moments before breaking eye contact and going back to what they were doing. Finally, after about thirty minutes, Elena jumped up at the same time as Klaus stood.

"Ok this is not working for me!" she exclaimed at the same time as he said, "I can't keep acting like this!"

They stared at each other for a moment, sizing each other up as they processed each other's words. At the same time, their legs began carrying them towards the other like they were magnets being dragged towards each other. . They met in the middle and Elena practically leapt into his arms, her legs wrapping around his waist as he caught her easily. Their lips connected and they melded together like two halves of a whole. Their sharp breaths were the only sound that filled the room as they kissed fervently.

In that moment, neither of them cared that they were a police officer and a witness. That they were twenty-six and eighteen. That there were rules against this entire thing happening or that there was a madman out there wanting to kill Elena and everyone connected to her. All that mattered was this, in this moment, in this room. That was all that mattered until the sharp sound of the doorbell ringing interrupted them. They pulled apart and Klaus let her down. He was across the room with a gun that she had no idea where it came from within five seconds.

He gestured for her to stay there as he peered through the peephole. She stood back and watched as he sighed with relief and opened the door.

"Officer." He greeted, holding out his hand to shake as the police officer stepped through the door.

"Detective. I just wanted to come let you know that me and my partner are out here watching. Sorry if I woke you." the officer said as he took in Klaus' disheiveled appearance.

"It's quite all right." Klaus nodded, waving past him at the other officer, who remained in the car.

Elena stayed where she was, biting her lip as she crossed her arms, trying to act as though she wasn't kissing her guardian moments earlier. The officer looked around and caught sight of her.

"Hello." He nodded.

She smiled and waved at him, starting forward so that her presence there wasn't so awkward. Of course, the officer chose that moment to take his leave of the house. But she was close enough to hear what he said to Klaus in goodbye.

"That your charge?" she heard him mutter.

Klaus nodded, his face amazingly unemotional and unaffected.

"Nice. You got lucky." The officer murmured, grinning suggestively.

Klaus' gaze turned steely and the policeman's grin disappeared and he turned to run out the door with his tail tucked between his legs. Elena watched as Klaus closed the door and turned to face her.

"Stop." She said, putting her hands up before he could step towards her again.

He looked confused but didn't move from where he was.

"Exactly how many rules are we breaking?" Elena asked, regressing to her high school persona of always sticking to the rules no matter what.

A grin formed on his face and he broke her order to stay where he was when he started forward and gathered her in his arms, titling her chin up to look at him with his hand.

"Absolutely zero." He breathed.

"But… Jonas…" she argued, finding it hard to think with him so close to her.

"Was trying to scare us. I think that he sensed the obvious chemistry between us, lovely." He said winking.

"I'm confused." She admitted.

"There are guidelines. Suggestions, more like. It's easy for things to get messy between a detective and their charge if they are of two different sexes. But they don't outright prohibit romantic involvement just as they don't prohibit it in the office. How do you think Damon and his assistant get away with dating so openly? And Lexi and Stefan are flirting all of the time." Klaus said informatively.

Elena thought for a moment. "Damon and Andie?" she questioned.

"Yes." He nodded.

She bit her lip, staring up at him.

"Guidelines?" Elena asked skeptically.

"Suggestions." Klaus corrected her.

A smile blossomed slowly on her face.

"What are you thinking, Miss Gilbert?" he asked, leaning down to get even closer to her.

Their lips were millimeters away from touching.

"Well, I was thinking…" she trailed off suggestively, murmuring softly.

"Yes?" he urged her.

"… we should really get back to unpacking." She finished, unwinding his arms from around her and backing away with a wicked grin on her face.

"Tease." He accused her.

"That may well be." Elena shrugged, turning to walk back to her boxes.

Klaus groaned and went back to unpacking his boxes.

"Put on music again?" she suggested, turning to smile at him.

"Of course." He agreed, starting up the music on his laptop once more.

He found his eyes going back and forth between his unpacking and Elena, who was slightly dancing as she broke down the boxes that she'd finished and carried the knick-knacks to the shelves of the entertainment center so that they wouldn't be sitting on the floor until their permanent location was determined. Her dancing increased slowly over the next few minutes as she chose more boxes to unpack. Klaus was pleased that her nerves and embarrassment was going down around him and that she was comfortable doing something so natural as dancing in front of him even if she didn't know she was doing it. It quickly became clear that she knew exactly what she was doing when she turned to him and began gesturing for him to stand up.

"Why?" he asked as she skipped over to him and pulled him up to a standing position.

"Because I'm getting lonely." She said with a grin, dancing around him an circle and encouraging him to do the same.

Finally he began twirling her around and moving with her, eliciting delighted giggles from her as they danced around the living room to the music.

"You're being so natural." He informed her as they moved around in a pathetic attempt at a waltz to a Journey song.

"What can I say? Kissing someone will do that to me." Elena replied easily, her eyes sparkling as they danced.

"Hmm… speaking of." He murmured before leaning down and capturing her lips in his.

She smiled against his lips but responded in kind. Unfortunately, it didn't take long for their energy to diminish once again. Their dancing ended and they collapsed onto the couch.

"Shall we retire to bed once more?" Klaus asked.

Elena looked at him with narrowed eyes.

"I am not that easy, Detective Mikaelson." She said, pointing her finger at him.

"I would never suggest that you are, Miss Gilbert." He said, standing and scooping her exhausted body up into his arms.

"I'll share a bed with you on one condition, Niklaus!" she proclaimed, poking her finger into his chest softly.

"What is that, love?" he asked, grinning at her sleepy talk.

"Keep your hands to yourself." She nodded before yawning and snuggling into his warm body.

"I can't keep any promises." He said softly as he laid her in the bed.

Apparently she didn't really care as she scooted right up next to him and buried her head into his chest.

* * *

When the doorbell rang, two distinctly female and male groans filled the air from the comfortable bed.

"No!" Elena grumbled definitively, clutching at Klaus's shirt as she squeezed her eyes shut.

"I agree." Klaus said sleepily, wrapping his arms tighter around her.

It rang again and this time was followed by three loud knocks.

"Tell them to go away!" she whined, throwing her leg over his.

"I can't tell them to go away if you're pinning me down, lovely." He yawned.

Elena lifted her head and squinted as if deciding whether to let him go.

"No." she repeated, letting her head fall on his chest once again.

The knocking sounded again and Klaus was finally able to convince Elena to let him go. She sat in the bed pouting as she looked at the time. It was past noon. They'd slept for quite a while. When she heard voices that she recognized as Rebekah and Kol, she sighed and pulled her hair up into a tight bun and wiped her eyes to clear them. Then Elena slid out of the bed and went into the bathroom, brushing her teeth and fixing her appearance before she tromped out of the room. When she made it to the stairs, she looked down to see Klaus standing with Kol, Rebekah, and another man that she recognized.

"… can't keep surprising me." Klaus said with a grin as he embraced the third guest.

She walked down the stairs softly, not wanting to interrupt the private family moment but not wanting to hide away and be rude either. Everyone turned to look at her as she reached the bottom of the stairs.

"Ah, and this must be the lovely Elena." the new man said, reaching out to shake her hand.

"Hello." She greeted kindly, smiling at him.

"Elena, this is my brother, Elijah." Klaus said.

"It is wonderful to meet you." Elijah said with a returned smile.

"You as well. All of Klaus' siblings are so kind." She said, smiling at all of them, Klaus last.

The way Elena's face brightened a little when she looked at Klaus did not go unnoticed by Rebekah, who gave her a knowing look that caused her face to flush.

"I got your message that you were stuck here for the next few days. So we came bearing gifts." The only female Mikaelson said, gesturing to the many plastic bags in the entryway that Elena did not notice before.

"Groceries. Thank you, sister." Klaus said, leaning forward and kissing her cheek.

Elena watched as the males gathered the groceries up and carried them into the kitchen. Rebekah stopped her from following.

"You don't have to say anything else but one thing you should learn about me is that I love to be right. So, tell me Elena, was I right?" the blonde asked.

Elena nodded with wide eyes, still a little intimidated by Klaus' sister.

"Fantastic!" she exclaimed, pulling Elena into a hug before dragging her into the kitchen.

* * *

**Author's Note: Review please! Next chapter we see Mikaelson/Elena bonding time! Especially Elijah and Elena getting to know each other.**


	13. Author's Note - New Chapter

Author's Note: There is a new chapter but it isn't showing up on the site. It's chapter 11. Look at the previous chapter and it is brand new. I'm sorry, I don't know what's going on. Let me know what you think.


End file.
